A Girl Called Samson

by Amy Harmon

My grandmother told me once that men may run the world, but women rule men.

I had never considered it a privilege to be a woman. Not even once. I had struggled at the bit of my sex, at the reins of society, at the saddle of tradition. It had not occurred to me that men had their own burdens, that they were bridled too. It was not women who died on the battlefield. I had been denied and barred entry to a world I wanted to experience, but had I been barred because I was disdained or because I was valued? I suspected it was both. Even so, I was less inclined to complain about my lot.

but it is one thing to be treasured and it is another to be a treasure. One is valued, one is possessed, and people aren’t possessions.