Solitude of The Self

Every now and then a true orator appears and inspires us in ways we have not been moved before. Martin Luther King, John Kennedy, Winston Churchill stand apart for the inspiration they were able to create in our generation. Few women have had the opportunity to reach such highs. But without a doubt one such woman was Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She was able to debate the rights of women in such eloquent words that no one could respond articulately to her arguments. They would ridicule, hate, malign, but no one could clearly address the issues she spoke about. My daughter recently came across her final address, and I found it so inspiring for all of us (men and women) that I would like to reproduce it for your consideration. The title is the solitude of self. Stanton was a mother, wife, lover, social activist and at the end of her life after her husband died, she spoke of the solitude of life so beautifully, so clearly, that I believe we can all gain from her insight.

Here is her final address to the National American Convention on January 18, 1892.

“No matter how much women prefer to lean, to be protected and supported, nor how much men prefer to have them do so, they must make the voyage of life alone, and for safety in an emergency they must know something of the laws of navigation….
The talk of sheltering women from the fierce storms of life is sheer mockery, for they beat on her from every point of the compass just as they do on man, and with more fatal results, for he has been trained to protect himself, to resist, to conquer... Whatever the theories may be of woman’s dependence on man, in the supreme moments of her life he cannot bear her burdens….(In) the tragedies and triumphs of human experience each mortal must stand alone.
The strongest reason why we ask for women a voice in the government under which she lives; in the religion she is asked to believe; equality in social life, where she is the chief factor; a place in the trades and professions, where she may earn her bread, is because of her birthright to self sovereignty; because as an individual, she must rely on herself.

In age, when the pleasures of youth are passed, children grown up, married and gone, the hurry and bustle of life in a measure over, when the hands are weary of active service, when the old armchair and the fireside are chosen resorts, then men and women alike must fall back on their own resources. There is a solitude which each and every one of us has always carried.... more inaccessible than the ice-cold mountains, more profound than the midnight sea; the solitude of self. Our inner being, which we call ourselves, no eye or touch of man or angel has ever pierced."