To all the little ladies with loud voices and so much to say that you can’t quite contain the words …
To the girls in my class who have ever been told to make themselves less, to tone it down or fit in …
To you, my daughter, who was born with enough spunk for a crowd …
Here’s to the girls who are a lot
You will change the world.
You were born big: big personality, big voice, big ideas. Our world needs every bit of you. Some may try to stifle you to a whisper or subtle your vibrancy because change requires a force — and, my girl, you are just that: a force.
Here are some facts about force, my dear
Everything stays at rest unless acted upon by a force.
Anything acted upon by a force suffers constant acceleration.
These are laws — laws of physics, laws of science — and science clearly states that the force of who you are, your pushback, your spunk will set the world into constant motion.
Girls with spunk, like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, are the reason women are now the majority voters in this country.
Girls with spunk, like Rosa Parks, are the reason we no longer have assigned seating sections on buses, in schools, and movie theaters.
Girls with spunk, like Jeannette Rankin, who held the first national office in the United States, are the reason women now occupy seats in our Congress.
Girls with spunk, like General Ann E. Dunwoody, the first four-star general, are the reason our country is defended by armed forces that include women.
And girls with spunk, like 5-year-old Ruby Bridges, who marched herself into that all-white school every single day until the rest of the country caught up with the law, are the reason you are surrounded by a diverse array of beautiful children in your classroom.
These ladies were a lot to handle
They probably pushed the envelope with their parents and talked back to their teachers on occasion. They stood when told to sit and, when ordered to stop, they calmly pushed onward. A lot of people tried to hinder them. But their force put the world in motion.
Now it’s your turn, my passionate and vibrant daughter.
Don’t stifle your strength. Don’t quiet your voice. Don’t diminish your ideas.
You were born with force.
Now set the world in motion.
