She is nobody

She is nobody

The leader is a woman. This woman is nobody. She was born and raised in a forgotten corner of the world. She is not a politician, not a public figure. She is not a famous one either. She is an ordinary woman but she is the rock of her family. She is a strong woman. She is a literally strong woman. In the 70s and early 80s, she worked in a traditional rock mining somewhere you could not even see in the premium Google Earth.

Early in the morning at around 4 am, she woke up. She took her sleeping son on her back, covered him with an old fragile towel. She travelled a long distance in the darkness breaking the foggy cold dark morning. She started the day with spirit. She went to the mining field. She passed the rice field as if she learned the footpath by hearth. She walked, she jumped, she ran in the darkness and she never fell down. Her feet had eyes that can see in the darkness. She did it everyday for the live of her family. She is a persistent woman. Her only son was always with her and she did not want him to be a rock miner, someday.

One cold morning in 1986, her son was desperate to open the sachet of shampoo and he could not do it. He asked his mother to bring him a knife or scissors. The woman came toward him and looked him in the eyes, took the shampoo and tore the corner of the sachet using her teeth. She told her son “you don’t need a knife, neither a scissors.” To her son, it was a great inspiration telling him that he can do something by himself.

The woman is a brilliant even though she studied formally only for six years in her life. She is not an orator, neither an author. She did not talk much but she did a lot. She did something and then talk. That’s how she influenced people around her. Being officially uneducated, she knew the importance of education. That’s why she devoted her time and energy for her son’s education. She did not want her son to work in a traditional rock mining in a forgotten corner of the world.

In 1987, the worst thing happened to her. Her husband decided to marry another woman. It was not only because of the mistake her husband made but also because she was too tolerant. She was too accepting. She interpreted the doctrine of ‘feminism’ differently. She chose not to fight for the harmony and for the future of her children. That’s what she always said. She was really the rock of her family. She inspired her son so much. She built a foundation of leadership through her silence.

Now the woman can smile. Not only because her son could tear a sachet of shampoo using his own teeth but also because her son has an opportunity to study four-times as long as she did in her time. She was happy because her son stood confidently in the building of the United Nations in New York, delivering his research in front of the internationally-renown experts in the field. She cried happily because her son was elected president of an organization covering not only the forgotten corner of the world but five continents around the Globe.

The woman is my mother. I know my way is still very long and I have not yet achieved much but I believe I am a product of a true leadership of a woman in a forgotten corner of the world. She taught me not to give up.

My mother is nobody. However, since nobody is perfect, to me, my mother is perfect.