RESPECT~Find Out What It Means To Me

     Attended Writer's Night Out last night, a social gathering of people in my region, trying to make their way as writers. While sitting with a small group of women of varying ages the topic of discussion turned to respect. Sadly, only one of the four women felt that the most significant people in her life really respects what she is doing for a living. Often the work was only considered worthwhile if it earned money. Some of the significant others come right out and make their lack of respect clear, and others show it in a more covert, but not much less hurtful, ways. Each of us felt that we have experienced a lack of interest in our work, and a lack of support in getting our work done, that we couldn't imagine would ever be the way we would treat a partner who had goals along any type of similar vein. We talked about how it felt that most other types of female artists we know; painters, photographers, actresses, etc., seem to get more support than us. And one writer pointed out that many of the most accomplished writers she could think of had a partner in their lives who totally believed in them and encouraged them to become all they can be. I've been thinking a lot about that. Thinking about Donald Hall and his loving support of Jane Kenyon as just one example. There are few things in life as painful, I think, as having that which is most central to who you are being dismissed as insignificant, or worse yet, as a waste of time and energy, by the person who is most central to you. Sometimes it is even a deal breaker requiring that a new ending be written.