Your balls, sir . . .

Mentioned in an earlier post is the fact that I collect quotes.  I have a file where they are kept against the day when inspiration, or encouragement, or some kind of something is needed to get me out of a fog, or a funk, or a rut, or a . . . you get the picture.  Oh!  And sometimes the quotes come with pictures . . . 
Well, as I was adding a quote to my collection, this one drew me in yet again.  Seems to kind of go along with my last post - or actually the post before that, which was a YouTube video of Katie Makkai performing at a poetry slam and expounding upon the power we give - most oftentimes unknowingly - to the word pretty.  Katie Makkai is a strong woman.
Strong women . . . we all know at least one.  Or perhaps we've seen one somewhere, like at work (too often this woman is referred to as a bitch 'cause a lot of times she's the boss), or read about one, such as in a magazine article about lady politicians - Hillary Clinton comes to mind, or we've seen one in a movie -- my favorite is Linda Hamilton as Sarah Conner in The Terminator ... especially in that final scene with that pump shotgun - yea, girl.
The fact is that strong women are everywhere.  We come in all shapes, sizes, colors, creeds, backgrounds, and ages.  We bring home the bacon, fry it up in the pan, clean the house, pay the bills, take care of the kids, feed you when you are hungry, heal you when you are sick, and of course, make a man out of you . . .  At least that's what Peggy Lee tells us.  Mostly, we are strong when we don't want to be.  We are strong when we are so tired that all we want is to crawl into a nice, warm bed, throw the covers over our head . . . and sleep like a child.  We are strong when we know that payday is once again almost two weeks away, and we still have to have gas for our car so we can get back and forth to all the places we have to go to after we go to our jobs.  We are strong standing in line getting groceries for our parents.  We are strong when we are at the doctor's office with someone other than our selves . . . and we know we are the one who should be seeing a doctor.  We are strong when we keep sending in job applications hoping that the right someone will see ours and schedule that interview so we can get that job with better hours and much, much better pay.  We are strong . . .
Some people say they don't care for strong women . . . and it's usually a man who will say words to that effect.  Poor thing, he just doesn't realize how weak that makes him.  He's afraid of a woman who has a mind.  He's afraid of a woman who expresses herself cohesively and succinctly.  He's afraid of being without all the things that a strong woman can do . . . which is everything.
Hey there, mister, I've got your balls right here . . .

“I've always loved strong women, which is lucky for me because once you're over about twenty-five there is no other kind. Women blow my mind. The stuff that routinely gets done to them would make most men curl up and die, but women turn to steel and keep on coming. Any man who claims he's not into strong women is fooling himself mindless; he's into strong women who know how to pout prettily and put on baby voices, and who will end up keeping his balls in her makeup bags.” 
― Tana French, Faithful Place