Muchness of nothing
by Irum Haroon | September 4, 2011 at 11:17 AM
I chose the title of my journal very carefully. Yet when I looked at it again I realized it could cause confusion. So here I am, trying to elucidate to you and to myself.
Women around the world suffer in silence. They are told they are no one. That their worth in the world is of no consequence. That it's best they be invisible. That they are nothing. Yet I know that to be false. They are wives and mothers, sisters and lovers. They are thinkers and home makers. They are peace and security. They are creators and sustainers. Indeed, they may be nothing in a world dominated by greed and consumerism but their 'nothingness' is actually full of what's really real on this earth.
For example, a mother has nothing but she is everything to her children. She is justice, she is security, she is truth. You cannot see these things or weigh them or put a price on them but they are there. Her 'muchness of nothing' is moving beyond words. Much too much.
I have tried to turn this word inside out and imbue it with positivity. I want it to reflect the opposite of what the cruel would have it mean. There is a muchness in the nothingness of women, a quiet power in the inner strength of my sisters. One that those with 'everything' are perhaps too blind to see. A power that one day they will rejoice in rather than despair for.
