One thing we know for sure is that change is certain. Progress is not. Progress depends on the choices we make today for tomorrow and on whether we meet our challenges and protect our values.
Something I wish every man across America understood is how much fear accompanies women throughout our lives. So many of us have been threatened or harmed. So many of us have helped friends recover from a traumatic incident. It's difficult to convey what all this violence does to us. It adds up in our hearts and our nervous systems.
In my experience, the balancing act women in politics have to master is challenging at every level, but it gets worse the higher you rise. If we're too tough, we're unlikable. If we're too soft, we're not cut out for the big leagues. If we work too hard, we're neglecting our families. If we put family first, we're not serious about the work. If we have a career but no children, there's something wrong with us, and vice versa. If we want to ..
One thing I've learned over the years is how easy it is for some people to say horrible things about me when I'm not around, but how hard it is for them to look me in the eye and say it to my face.
My mistakes burn me up inside. But as one of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver, says, while our mistakes make us want to cry, the world doesn't need more of that.
Early on the morning of November 9, when it came time to decide on what I'd say in my concession speech, I remembered those words. Inspired by them, I wrote these: "To all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams."
They [parents] can resist the impulse to "prove" their love by showering children with things they do not need and give them precisous time and attention instead."
You didn't vote? How could you not vote?! You abdicated your responsibility as a citizen at the worst possible time! And now you want me to make you feel better?" Of course, I didn't say any of that."
You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. . . . You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise.
It's up to us to make the choice to be grateful even when things aren't going well. Nouwen calls that the "discipline of gratitude." To me, it means not just being grateful for the good things, because that's easy, but also to be grateful for the hard things too. To be grateful even for our flaws, because in the end, they make us stronger by giving us a chance to reach beyond our grasp."
Over the years, I've hired and promoted a lot of young women and young men. Much of the time, this is how it went: ME: I'd like you to take on a bigger role. YOUNG MAN: I'm thrilled. I'll do a great job. I won't let you down. YOUNG WOMAN: Are you sure I'm ready? I'm not sure. Maybe in a year? These reactions aren't innate. Men aren't naturally more confident than women. We tell them to believe in themselves, and we tell women to doubt thems..
I'm not sure how to solve all this. My gender is my gender. My voice is my voice. To quote Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, the first woman to serve in the U.S. Cabinet, under FDR, "The accusation that I'm a woman is incontrovertible." Other women will run for President, and they will be women, and they will have women's voices. Maybe that will be less unusual by then."
All of us face hard choices in our lives. Some face more than their share. We have to decide how to balance the demands of work and family. Caring for a sick child or an aging parent. Figuring out how to pay for college. Finding a good job, and what to do if you lose it. Whether to get married--or stay married. How to give our kids the opportunities they dream about and deserve. Life is about making such choices. Our choices and how we hand..
But too many of Trump's core supporters do hold views that I find--there's no other word for it--deplorable. And while I'm sure a lot of Trump supporters had fair and legitimate reasons for their choice, it is an uncomfortable and unavoidable fact that everyone who voted for Donald Trump--all 62,984,825 of them--made the decision to elect a man who bragged about sexual assault, attacked a federal judge for being Mexican and grieving Gold St..
I'm often asked how I take the criticism directed my way. I have three answers: First, if you choose to be in public life, remember Eleanor Roosevelt's advice and grow skin as thick as a rhinoceros. Second, learn to take criticism seriously but not personally. Your critics can actually teach you lessons your friends can't or won't. I try to sort out the motivation for criticism, whether partisan, ideological, commercial, or sexist, analyze ..
Parenthood has the power to redefine every aspect of life - marriage, work, relationships with family and friends. Those helpless bundles of power and promise that come into our world show us our true selves- who we are, who we are not, who we wish we could be.
Do I feel empathy for Trump voters? That's a question I've asked myself a lot. It's complicated. It's relatively easy to empathize with hardworking, warmhearted people who decided they couldn't in good conscience vote for me after reading that letter from Jim Comey . . . or who don't think any party should control the White House for more than eight years at a time . . . or who have a deeply held belief in limited government, or an overridi..
The episodic, reactive, almost frantic pace of what is broadcast makes children feel and act frantic and shortens their attention spans and their patience for activities that take time and problems that don't yield immediate solutions.
It was another example of a phenomenon I call "the talking dog syndrome." Some people are still amazed that any woman (this includes Governors' wives, corporate CEOs, sports stars and rock singers) can hold her own under pressure and be articulate and knowledgeable. The dog can talk!"
The commentator Peter Daou, who worked on my 2008 campaign, captured my feelings when he tweeted, "If Trump had won by 3 million votes, lost electoral college by 80K, and Russia had hacked RNC, Republicans would have shut down America."
I think all this may help explain why women leaders around the world tend to rise higher in parliamentary systems, rather than presidential ones like ours. Prime ministers are chosen by their colleagues--people they've worked with day in and day out, who've seen firsthand their talents and competence. It's a system designed to reward women's skill at building relationships, which requires emotional labor.
While there are few problems in today's world that the United States can solve alone, there are even fewer that can be solved without the United States. Everything that I have done and seen has convinced me that America remains the "indispensable nation." I am just as convinced, however, that our leadership is not a birthright. It must be earned by every generation."
forward-thinking teachers and school administrators across the country are creating a whole range of alternatives to cookie-cutter teaching and evaluation methods, such as the use of student portfolios and exhibitions in addition to conventional exams to assess students' progress.
There was one major fact that kept the balance steady between us: I still needed my mother. I needed her shoulder to lean on; I needed her wisdom and advice. I used to come home from a long day in the Senate--or, in 2007 and 2008, from a day on the campaign trail--and slide in next to her at our kitchen table and let all my frustrations and worries tumble out. Mostly, she just listened. When she gave advice, it always came down to the same ..