Last Friday, I completed International Women's Day by walking the labyrinth at the Anglican cathedral in Port-of-Spain. The labyrinth is pre-Christian and associated with meditation and contemplation, and for me, the divine feminine.As I arrived, eight primary schoolgirls flocked to the gate like curious brown and black birds, wanting to follow my steps."The labyrinth is magical," I said, "walk along its path, picture what you want to be when you grow up and imagine that it will happen. Then, as you follow the curves back out, give thanks for everything that will help you fulfill that dream."
What did these little girls want to be? "A billionaire," said the first one. "Barbie," said the second. "A pop star," said another. "A dancer," said a fourth. One wanted to be a doctor, influencing the billionaire-aspirant to say she now wanted to be a doctor too. "Who wants to be a flower?" I asked. "What about being a kiskeedee, or a dolphin?" I suggested, glad that these little girls could still imagine without boundaries.I traced the pattern like a mother duck with a buoyant brood of beautiful, powerful, strong and amazing young, telling them the magic of the labyrinth is that it teaches you to focus on your steps and direction until your journey is complete. When we reached the centre, we held hands and affirmed our aspirations.
One little one said she wanted to be a police, another a teacher. That's cool, I said, I'm a teacher. And I want to be a sunflower, she added. Yes, I agreed, I've always dreamt of being a sunflower too.I've walked that labyrinth before but never with such bubbling, giggling joy for nothing but the adventure of the moment. On the way back, we gave thanks for the stars and the sun, the sea and the animals. A different little girl now holding hands with me gave thanks for our homes, another for food, another for friends, and, one added, for being popular. Whatever I went to meditate on was completely forgotten and no longer mattered which, I suppose, was my lesson to learn.
I could only be grateful for the reminder that feminism needs to continue to struggle to offer girls options beyond bling, Barbie and pop-stardom so that they also live with fantasies of being Nobel Prize scientists and inventors, history-setting architects and engineers, astronauts, world leaders and, yes, police, doctors, mothers and sunflowers too.We still need revolution in a world where men rule irresponsibly, defining bodies and fame as girls' biggest assets and best hope, marketing the myth that their moneymaker doesn't refer to their minds. As with the labyrinth, they will have to navigate sharp twists and turns, meandering paths and unexpected directions as they find their way. I was blessed enough to encounter them long enough to say, you are the future divine feminine, be unafraid.
When we ended back at the beginning, these little birds scattered, skipping away with a confident playfulness I wish I still had. I experienced both happiness and renewed passion for a politics that seeks to conquer, with love, labour and even laughter, every form of violence and inequality that defines girls by less than their boldest dreams. I got hugs more vast that the sky itself from their skinny arms before I walked away into the dusty traffic, knowing by instinct rather than logic, I had just witnessed the labyrinth work its most enchanting magic.