PRECIOUS AND PRICELESS PEARLS
By Solomon Chollom
Women are great people with vast potentials. They are often misunderstood and mishandled. When given the opportunity they shine like a million stars. They blossom in colourful parade like the rainbow. Like the flamboyant flowers they beautify homes and lives of those that cared to give them a chance. Like the eagle they free themselves in the arms of love. When mishandled, they recoil into a thorny capsule like a hedge hog ready to pierce anyone who dares to near. They would roar like a lion to keep off hostile elements and pick up war kits in self defence
However, Proverbs 31 shows us the value, virtue and valour of a women. She comes at no price because she is priceless. Dowry is not her price it is given in appreciation of a kind offer. She is the companion a man needs to hit the ground running. She is a born entrepreneur, a delightful home maker, one who takes her husband from the fringes of society into exalted places among elders in the city gates. Through her ingenuity, her husband receives kingly adoration amidst his peers. She makes sure her kids are gleeful and neat. They may not have the best of clothing but they are the best dressers. She uses her hands as building blocks and support pillars in the home. She is hospitable and accommodating to strangers. Her husband feels safe in her hands because she means no harm.
Unfortunately, not all men know her. Some see her as an object for use and abuse. Others see her as mere child-producing factory with no say in decision making. A few see her as a tool and not the suitable helpmeet she was hewn to be. Many never give her the atmosphere of Prov 31 to blossom and take over. They confine, restrict and restrain her abilities and opportunities. They inspect, suspect, threaten, bully and batter her because of her vulnerability. They shout her down when they should have charged her on. They turn her cheerful mood to a tearful one. They violet her colourful petals and leave her deflowered in rags and shame. They leech her of her essence and throw her out in the cold. Men that never mastered dealings with women can never become good masters even to a herd of cattle.
Men that master the women folk only sit at the gates to be praised for the virtuous and virtuoso display of their wives. They are rewarded with stable, peaceful and joyful home fronts decked with flowery and promising kids. They are safe with investments and opportunities. They work hard to create the platform for her expression and watch with pride and satisfaction how she dominates the arena. They constitute her cheerleader on the stands while she is displaying and a life coach in the closet for a better outing subsequently. They defend her territory from attacks and lead her marketing team. They are simply magnificent in their roles behind the scenes to make her the celebrity she is
However, not many women know their worth. They live in the shadow of themselves. They sell for nothing and anything. Money, cars, food, clothing and houses now buy them. She forgets she is priceless. Her hands are today idle, she fails to train them to weave, plait, cook, sweep, write, paint and so on. She has mortgaged her skills for scorn. She no longer considers fields for merchandise but fields for show. She spends to her last on perfumes, deodorants, colourful attire and facial paintings since she has lost her blossoming, radiant petals and magnetic scent as the Rose flower she was meant to be. She now runs in hot pursuit of the bees her scent as a flower should have naturally brought her way. A misdirected woman is never the dream of any man.