Jennifer Ryan
asked
Jennifer Ryan:
What lessons can we learn today from the brave and bold women in Second World War England?
Jennifer Ryan
Today we face some of the same challenges as they did in those times, universal themes that continue to affect women everywhere. The first, and probably most important, is that we are still in a world created and organized in a way that was constructed decades and centuries ago by men. It is never too late in life to challenge the way things are done, as the women do in Chilbury. Small steps and seizing opportunities to gain control of aspects of our lives, such as work and family responsibilities, all make a difference. We need to make the world more geared toward our needs and wants, rather than it being molded to an old-fashioned world of yesterday.
For me, it was important that the Chilbury ladies first took on the choir for themselves, but then that they changed it to meet their own purposes. They made the entire choir concept work better for them, moving away from the traditional role of a choir and directing their aims toward a choir that helps them and other women.
I think this what I’d like readers to take away from Chilbury, that it’s up to us to take control of our world, create a new way of seeing old ways of doing things, and rejuvenate them for our own uses. We, too, need to question the status quo and find ways that will better suit our purpose.
For me, it was important that the Chilbury ladies first took on the choir for themselves, but then that they changed it to meet their own purposes. They made the entire choir concept work better for them, moving away from the traditional role of a choir and directing their aims toward a choir that helps them and other women.
I think this what I’d like readers to take away from Chilbury, that it’s up to us to take control of our world, create a new way of seeing old ways of doing things, and rejuvenate them for our own uses. We, too, need to question the status quo and find ways that will better suit our purpose.
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