Louise Carroll: Learn from sisterhood of history and now
I am an only child and not the stereotypical spoiled child. As the child of a working mother in the 1940s, I learned independence at a very young age. I certainly wasn't pampered. I was free to do what I wanted to do and not always what I should have, but I survived.
Since I grew up without siblings or close family I have come to appreciate the sisterhood of women.
Beginning in my childhood, women were my heroes: Florence Nightingale, an upper-class British woman who led a group of female nurses to the war in Crimea to take care of sick and wounded British soldiers in 1851. When she returned to England she established nurse education programs; Clara Barton, a nurse in the Civil War, founded the American Red Cross; Jane Addams a settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage and advocated for world peace.
I was excited when I learned about them and the amazing things they did. They changed lives and history. Do people even recognize their names today?
I was inspired enough to go to nursing school, go into social work and be an advocate for women's rights.
If girls today aren't motivated by these leaders I'm sure they are being inspired by strong women who are passionate about making the world a better place.
During World War II, Eleanor Roosevelt was one of my heroes; she got out there and did things. I know because I would see her on the newsreels at the movies on Saturday because at that time she was one of the world's most admired and powerful women. She was a woman ahead of her time serving as a United Nations diplomat and a humanitarian working for human rights.
I often repeat her quotes that had meaning for me. Just a couple of favorites are "You must do the things you think you cannot do," and "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
I wasn't just inspired by women of history, I was inspired by Wonder Woman. When I was a child I could hardly wait for the next monthly "Wonder Woman" comic book. I lived on Wampum Avenue and I would hurry across the street to Mallory's News Stand clutching my dime, eager to see who Wonder Woman would help or how she would save the world from catastrophe. She had the lasso of truth and when it touched someone they had to tell the truth. The world would be a different place if there really was a lasso of truth.
For those who are too young to remember "Wonder Woman" comic books, there was the 1975-79 "Wonder Woman" TV show and the 2017 "Wonder Woman" movie. I didn't see any of that, but I'm sure that Diana Prince, daughter of an Amazon queen, who was created by Zeus to protect mankind was doing her thing.
Wonder Woman was the first female superhero, better late than never, I say. Wonder Woman was saving mankind just like those bulging muscled superheroes like Captain Marvel and Batman who were rescuing all those damsels in distress and doing it in those skin-tight suits. It was empowering to know that a woman could save damsels and gentlemen in devastating dire circumstances and look so beautiful while she did it. I was also impressed that she flew her own invisible airplane. Wonder Woman had a real impact on my way of thinking.
Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston, who invented the systolic blood pressure test, which became one component of the modern polygraph invented by John Larson. He is so interesting that I will have to do a column about the man who created one of my heroines.
I've learned about and enjoyed sisterhood from many women of history, women in my life, fictional characters and, of course, Wonder Woman.
Sisterhood is how women relate to women and being a member of the sisterhood is a blessing and a responsibility.
This poem by Rupi Kaur says it perfectly.
"I stand
On the sacrifices
Of a million women before me
Thinking
What can I do
To make this mountain taller
So the women after me
See farther."
This article originally appeared on Ellwood City Ledger: Carroll: Learn from sisterhood of history and now
