Living in the Sunlight

The Naturalist in me emerges every time I see a butterfly on the wing or hear the male cicada cry out for a companion in these early days of August.  The poor male cicada hasn’t caught up with the times yet.  After all, he has been underground for years crawling around in the dark.  He doesn’t know that things have changed drastically while he has been in his underground tunnel.  You see, nature (at least at this moment) has given only the male cicada a voice, only the male cicada sings a song. The female cicada has not yet evolved and she has no voice, no song, no sound of her own.  

Up here on the surface and in the sunlight, perhaps even with his short life span, the male cicada may learn the truth.  Up here on the surface and in the sunlight, perhaps the female will come to realize that things have changed and she does have a voice now, and her own song to sing.

We must not be over-critical of nature and the life of the cicada for not being up to date. It seems to me that there are male homo sapiens who have not yet evolved beyond the lifestyle of the cicada.  It is almost as though they have been living for years underground in some dark tunnel.  They still believe only they have a song, only they have a voice, only they can rule the day. They still believe that the female of the species must naturally succumb to their song and that she has no song of her own to sing.  

Up here on the surface and in the sunlight, perhaps the truth will be revealed to those who have been living in a dark underground tunnel for years.  Women, here in the sunlight, have a voice and a vote!  Women, here in the sunlight, have a song to sing!  Women, here in the sunlight, are equal partners in the shaping of history.  Like the female cicada, they were not permitted a voice or a vote, or a song to sing for years in this nation that proclaims equality as the basis of its creed.  But now they do!  Up here on the surface and in the sunlight, female and male butterflies dance in the air on their colorful fluttering wings—they have emerged from their cocoons to face and celebrate a new day!

Annecy, France