As a kid, my mind was always full of questions. I clearly remember one question that kept looming in my mind.
As a kid I used to feel,
‘Why can only women become mothers?’
‘Men should also be able to give birth !’
It is funny indeed to think about it now.
But that was the first time I felt unequal to women in some sense.
Over time, I realized how naturally empowered women are !
Recently a friend shared how she is sometimes frustrated when she has to go through the agony of getting periods every month.
I could only share,
‘But you are the source of all creation! You have the ability to support a life inside your body. To me you are the most powerful force in the world that I know.
This recurring inconvenience is nothing as compared to the gift of creation you possess!’
Once I said this, the old question I used to have as a child came back to me.
‘Why can’t men give birth?’
Then I thought,
Maybe a man can’t nourish a child like woman. But he still has the choice to create art.
The two are quite alike!
Whenever we create a piece of art, we feel as if it is a part of us.
It is our baby so to say.
Anyone who has ever created art would relate to it. It could be an old poem you’d written that you still remember, or a song that you’d composed when you’d fallen in love for the first time, that day when you baked your first cake or knit those socks for your newborn niece…
It could scale up to more serious pursuits in art, depending on how much it means to you.
Through art, a man gets access to motherhood.
The more lovingly you create, the more the work of art feels like an extension of yourself.
And just how a well brought up child takes care of his parents when they need him,
The art you create will heal you as you’re at it, and bring you joy, satisfaction and recognition as it ages with you.
A man can be a mother, repeatedly, through his whole life. He has the liberty to be a better mother as he understands and evolves with the process of creation.
Biological motherhood doesn’t offer this latitude!
Women are lucky indeed, for they can create babies and of course, art!
Now, I believe I can give birth.
With my art!
And just how important making babies is for perpetuation of our species,
Just as important is art, in revealing what the universe expresses,
Through the fascinating experience,
Of being human.
To our collective experience of the joy of motherhood.
Make art ! 🙂
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