To the Men in my Life

Ever since International Women's Day, I've been itching to post this message. I decided to wait a day or two, hoping not to be labeled insensitive. Here goes ....

To start with, I don't believe in taking one day out of the year to celebrate something or someone. Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, Anniversaries.... For me, I believe in cherishing people (and their rights) on a regular basis through the things I say and do. My opinion about taking one day out of the year and elevating a cause tends to demonstrate that we have not yet integrated these values into our daily behaviour.

There were a lot of thanks going out to all the wonderful, powerful women in our lives on Monday - I trust that the women in my life know that is how I feel about you everyday, notwithstanding the fact that I didn't express this on Monday (being my son's birthday).

I believe that the human race is better blended, so as a reminder of this, I would like to thank the men in my life who value my idiosyncrasies and acknowledge me as a person: my husband - who always accepted me as his equal partner; my son, - who always challenged me to think outside of the norms and values strong women in his life; my father - who raised me to be independent; my male business colleagues - who valued my contribution; and my male friends - who saw me as a person.

I have worked for all women organizations and for male dominated ones but the best have been the businesses with a blended leadership. I don't have the answers to creating equality in the world. I choose to be happy in the knowledge that I can control my own actions and my desire to live my life as an example of my ideals.