American Heroes...Clara Barton

I find it often interesting that when we study women in history, that they are often depicted as either helpless saps who arent able to fend for themselves or  raging feminists bent on destroying men.  Honestly, we are taught that Susan B. Anthony hated men and that Joan of Arc was just an insane religous zealot who spoke to spirits. But when we take a look around us and see the average woman we know that this cannot at all be true and that women throughout the ages have not changed that much.  They love to nurture, care for and fix problems that often come their way (that is why the best girls end up with the worst guys, because they see it as their goal to remedy them of all their problems).  Women are not born with the "kill" gene that men often posses, but rather the gene to create and make things better.

                                                       

A great example of this from America's past is a woman by the name of Clara Barton.  In fact when I started investigating the Red Cross I was not at all aware who the founder in fact was.  I expected it to be some "idealistic" do-gooder from back east, desperate to make a name for himself in the name of philanthropy.  But that person wasnt any of those things, in fact the person was a quaint New England girl who devoted her entire life to fixing people, and making them better.    As a small girl in her teens she spent hours educating small children in local elementary schools.  Because at the time education was not free, she petitioned from the Massachussetts state governement and opened the first not for profit public school in the state.  She later became instrumental in providing wounded Union soldiers with medical supplies.  Her dream however, was to organize a relief organization in the United States but was prohibited by laws at the time to function internationally.  So in 1881 so organized the American Red Cross to function within the United States. It was an immediate success and for the remainder of her life she set about helping forest fire victims, those affected by the hurricanes off the Gulf of Mexico and war veterans of the Spanish American War.

Clara is a far cry from what modern feminists imagine the "ideal woman" to be.  Being a good woman does not mean hating men and having to assert your dominion over those around you.  This would even be terrible for a man to do.  A great women is just a great person, one that thinks about others more than themselves.