HALF THE SKY

Little Cate had her first birthday last Wednesday. It is hard to believe how quickly time has passed since her birth on that glorious Fall day last October. She is one of the most spirited people whom I have ever met, and she seems to be someone who feels as though we are incapable of comprehending what all is going through her head. Her teacher at daycare said that Cate thinks she is 2 years old and that she might just be 2 years old, intellectually. I have a sense that she is going to (already is) be one precocious kid. While "glass ceilings" surely do still exist in this country in 2009, I believe that Cate, herself, and the loftiness of her dreams and ambitions will be the main determinants of her success. Unfortunately, in most of the rest of the world, women and young girls face much more dire obstacles.

No one has written more extensively and persuasively on this topic than Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. His columns that appear twice per week in the Times serve as a bully pulpit for the world's forgotten and oppressed. He and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, with whom he shared a Pulitzer prize for their reporting from China during the Tienanmen Square crisis in the early 1990s, have a new book out called, "Half the Sky," which is a discussion about how oppression of women worldwide (and especially in the underdeveloped and developing world) is the challenge of our time. The title is taken from Chinese proverb that says, "Women hold up half the sky," which stresses women's importance to us all. Improving the lot of women in the 3rd and 4th worlds is not just a moral issue, in Kristof's mind, it is also an economic and national security imperative. I have only read the first few chapters, but I can say already that if you only read one book this year, read "Half the Sky."

Last night, I had the good fortune to hear Mr. Kristof, who is a native of Oregon, speak and discuss his views on the world and on the plight of women worldwide. His stories from his encounters with the world's oppressed will break your heart, but in every account, there is some measure of triumph and some kernel of hope. He also rouses his readers' consciences to think beyond our own comfortable existences and to contribute to improving our world one person at a time (you, too, can get involved by going here). At the end of his talk, he took questions from the audience. Some 10 people asked questions, some of which were self-serving (my non-profit www.fillintheblank.com....) while others were polemical ("Don't you, as a man, feel hypocritical writing a book about oppressed women?"). I, too, felt the need to express myself, so I arose from my seat on the 4th row and strode to one of the two microphone stands and took my place in line behind an elderly woman. When it was my turn, the moderator announced that mine would be the last question of the night. Of note, the moderator had clearly stated at the beginning of the Q and A that "the best questions are... actual questions." I spoke into the microphone that I had both a comment and a question (probably a few snickers were heard). It went something like this:

"First, I want to thank you for coming to Portland. Your writing and your work disprove the adage that one person cannot make a difference and that one person cannot change the world. (Applause...) You are in a town where 90% of the populace voted for Barack Obama, and I am not sure if this is an issue of news coverage, but why has this President not been more out front on the issue of global oppression of women? We give billions of dollars annually in economic and military aid to many of the chief offenders. We can send 40,000 more American men and women to fight in a war, or we can build 40,000 schools to truly try to make our world a better and safer place (Raucous applause). What are your thoughts?"

Mr. Kristof thanked me for my question and said it was a good one on which to end. He replied, that he thought that there had been bright spots in the first 10 months of the Obama Administration and that this Administration's good works had not been sufficiently covered in the press, but he did go on to say that we must hold the feet of our leaders (and particularly those whom we admire and worked so hard to elect) to the fire. He said we should demand as much of them and expect as much of them as we did of former President George W. Bush. He said that the US has the power to lead on this issue, but it will only happen if we force our elected officials to lead in this crusade to improve the lot of women worldwide.

After the talk, I went up to him and shook Mr. Kristof's hand. I told him that I was an oncologist and that, in many respects, my work also allowed me to experience both tragedy and triumph every week and that I understood the joy that he derived from his work which took him into some of the darkest places, figuratively and literally, on this earth. The hopefulness that underlies his work (and mine and the attitude I want both my children Cate and Nicholas to espouse) was best captured in an anecdote he shared during his talk about the story of a young man who was walking on a beach scattered with starfish. The young man proceeded to throw some of the beached starfish back into the sea. An older gentleman, who was also standing on the beach, said to the young man, "There are thousands of starfish. Throwing a few back cannot possibly make a difference." The little boy, as he threw another starfish back into the sea, said, "Tell that to this starfish..."