A World Where #METOO Isn't Necessary

GUEST AUTHOR
JENNIFER JOHNSON, SECRETARY
EMPOWERMENT 4 GIRLS

I have wanted to write about #METOO, this seismic force of nature since the very first hashtags were rolling in and the silence cracked, women's’ whispers raised to a shout, deafening and destroying the protection of ego and fragility. I have wanted to write about it in many places and in so many ways—not to add anything new. I mean we all know this story inside and out and although I have said it out loud again and again to friends, sisters, husbands (mine and yours) acquaintances, and in an awkward moment of solidarity, a lady at the bank… I haven’t written it down yet, because, ugh, #METOO, am I right?!

Let it topple. We are here to rebuild.
"Breathe," I tell myself, triggered again and again. "Stay right here in your body and just breathe." Inhabiting my own empowerment through breath, voice, and being is not something that I take for granted. #METOO and #TIMESUP are powerful forces of nature, exposing the seething molten anger hiding underneath layers of barely stable mountain tops. "Let it topple," I say, "We are here to rebuild."

So many reasons…
As secretary for Empowerment 4 Girls (E4G), one of Olympia's newest nonprofits, I am keenly aware and involved with a group of some of the most dynamic women of our community. We are each a part of E4G for so many reasons:

• Some of us are seeking to empower our own children, our own lost selves. After all, we were girls once desiring and deserving empowerment.
• Some of us are learning what it means to step fully into the power of divine feminine flow and put our skills to magical use creating curricula and laughter.
• Some of us struggle with the hegemony in our current educational system and we see E4G as an opportunity to create a welcoming space for all female-identifying beings.
• Some of us are inspired by the possibility of teaching younger generations to create a new world built on awareness, love, and compassion.

Hope, Love, Faith, and Trust
We all have so many reasons to channel our hope, love, faith, and trust through this organization. #METOO is one of a zillion of my reasons; my focus on the future while we sort out the past so that we can empower the present with our voices, choices, surroundings. Bravely saying, "Me too, and I believe you, and I know it hurts," to the lineage of women who have lived without these hashtags for too long. Creating empowerment for girls is to honor and release the #METOOs, and create a future that will never accept it as the status quo.

PERSONAL INVITATION
Empower the future to heal the past.
May there be no more #METOO in the generations beyond this.
You can help us rebuild.
Jennifer Johnson

Ways to Help