Legend.

There were many, many fascinating details I learned about France, Europe and the development of race as a social construct in Tom Reiss' new book, The Black Count but I really got hooked on the idea of Alex Dumas as a legend in his own time, even before his son, Alexandre Dumas, used him as the inspiration for The Count of Monte Cristo. Alex Dumas, born Thomas-Alexandre, was a legendary figure not just because he was a black man who achieved incredible military success at a time when policies were being enacted to dehumanize people of African descent. His story is the classic stuff of legend: born into dubious social standing, sold into slavery by his desperate father, reclaimed again by the same man and groomed for nobility, rising through the French social ladder. Everyone loves the triumph of the underdog, especially when he's good-looking!

And it got me thinking about how any of us could be legends in the making, without knowing it. Do you think Alex Dumas knew he would be immortalized in his son's novels? That books would be written about him? We don't have to be big legends and we don't have perform heroic acts but we can leave a mark on the world by sharing some part of ourselves for the good of humanity.

Every once in awhile I ask myself, "what is the point of me?" Don't get me wrong-- I place great value on my role as a mother and a keeper of the home but if you know me, you know that I totally buy into that woo-woo stuff about giving back to the universe. Some people call it karma but I think it's a mistake to actively court karma. Instead, you should send out to the universe what you hope to get back.

Not so long ago, the "point of me" was to share my knowledge and passion with teenagers in the South Bronx. I'm still very passionate about education. I don't have a lot of money but I do have time and energy, and that is how I've chosen to return the favor. Getting involved with Pathways Togo is an action that I feel good about, getting to the root of change-- education. The idea of education as a path to empowerment, to personal freedom, to personal success is something that I tried to instill in my students. I reminded them often that I was not in the classroom for them, they were not in the classroom for me. They were in the classroom for themselves, and so our time together would be whatever they made it be.

I try very hard to take my own advice: the quality of my time here is what I make it. When I imagine myself as an old lady, looking back on my life, I don't see myself as a legend, but as a small force that joined together with other small forces to create a powerful synergy in the universe that became an agent of change for the greater good.

Alexandre Dumas' works were heavily influenced by his father, also named Alexandre Dumas. In the biography The Black Count, author Tom Reiss tells how Dumas went from slavery to become the equivalent of a five star general in the French military. Join From Left to Write on October 11 as we discuss the The Black Count. As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes. All links to the book are affiliate links. This means if you buy the book using the link, I get a cut. 

Luckier.

I'd seen mention of Half The Sky on Twitter, but only had a vague recognition of what it was. Something to do with women or education or something? I'm not even sure if I follow Nicholas Kristof on Twitter. The other night, scrolling through the cable guide, I saw the listing for Half The Sky, glanced at the description: "Women and girls across the globe face threats — trafficking, prostitution, violence, discrimination — every day of their lives." And kept scrolling. 

I didn't want to watch this. I didn't really want to think about these problems that were not within my power to solve or fix. I didn't want to watch this depressing thing. After all, I know already. I know that bad things happen to women all over the world. Why do I need to watch this documentary? It's not like I was going to do anything about it. 

But then I felt a sense of embarrassment and shame. How could I allow myself to avoid this confrontation of facts, reality, stories? As a woman, as a mother, as a wife. As Sheryl WuDunn says in the documentary, women all over the world, even right here in America, suffer from violence and discrimination. So, I scrolled back up and tuned in, bracing myself. The stories were sad, yes but they were also imbued with hope, the women so inspiring and good-spirited despite all the bad and downright horrific experiences they lived and still live through. 

What makes people, never mind women, so brave? So strong? I pay lip-service to plenty of causes but I don't take action. Every once in a while, I make a donation. It assuages my guilt... a little. I don't really need to do deep self-analysis to understand what holds me back from action. It's fear, on different levels. It's the fear of discomfort. It's the fear of jeopardizing my safety or my family's safety.     What separates me from a brave soul is the sense of urgency and desperation. No matter what else is going on in the world, I have my warm, safe home. I have a loving family. I have food in my fridge. I mean, I have a fridge. I have access to money and capital. Like Nicholas Kristof points out, I am luckier. 

The women profiled in Half The Sky are in the thick of it.  The need is immediate, apparent and life-threatening in ways that most of us cannot imagine, even if you think you can. It is hard for me to fathom circumstances so dire that I would risk life and limb to change those circumstances for myself, for my children, for other women. The common theme woven through these stories is education. It has been shown, time and time again, that educating women and girls helps not just their own economic situations and quality of life, but their countries as well. Women who are part of the economy uplift the economy as a whole, in these countries. 

There are quite a few organizations out there that help empower girls and women in Africa through education, but I happen to be friends with the President of the Board at Pathways Togo, so I've reached out to her, offering my time and energy to their cause. I'm excited to become involved, in whatever capacity I'm able. 

Pathways Togo was born out of a scholarship fund created in memory of a Peace Corps volunteer who suffered a fatal accident while serving in Togo. Pathways grants scholarships that help girls cover the cost of schooling, uniforms and supplies. A girl who attends school becomes a mother who insists that her own daughters attend school, and from one generation to the next, education becomes a cultural value, not just a luxury afforded to a lucky few.  In addition to this financial support, Pathways provides mentoring to help recipients work through the common obstacles to completing their education, such as the pressure to marry young or even something as simple as finding a place to study at night.

Despite the South Bronx being a world away from Togo, the similarities between my students and these Togolese girls are striking. The students I taught in the South Bronx often had obligations and cultural values that conflicted with their schooling. Many of them worked long hours after school, or had no suitable place to study and do homework. Some of them were pressured by gangs to drop out of school. A lot of them came from a culture where working to provide for a family was a priority over getting a diploma. For someone like me, the connection between education and future earnings seem obvious but when money needs to earned RIGHT NOW, investing time in school doesn't offer quick enough gratification. 

The issues are different but the theme is the same: education uplifts a people. (Please don't be surprised that I'm about to quote Paulo Freire. I did go to NYU School of Ed, after all!) 

“Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.” 

{That Paulo Freire link is an IndieBound affiliate link. This means, if you buy the book using my link, I get a cut.}