#ClaireMusings: women in society

Since becoming a father of a little girl, I see the world very different.  I see what society is telling our daughters, and who they would like to mold them to be.  It's sickening.  Women/girls are hated by society, and we buy into it like it's an actual reality.

Women are strong.  Women are tough.  Women are equal to men.  Those are not the statements that we hear in our culture.  We typically hear that women are property or are less than men.  It's just really disgusting.  It happens in The Church even more than I think we realize, but then again aren't wives supposed to submit to their husbands?  I mean it's like the ladies can't get empowered or see their worth from anywhere. I was so proud of my Pastor that past weekend when he said, "Women and men are equal, God created them from one another."   That seems like it should be common knowledge, but it's not and that's why I am so proud of that statement.

We have a Presidential candidate that has said some repulsive things about women. I mean, has said the most misogynistic things, and is leading in the polls.  IS LEADING, by a HUGE MARGIN!  We start to believe when we follow blindly.

Today I was scrolling down my Instagram feed and saw this little gem:

This is a local high-priced boutique in Amarillo Texas.  It's usually associated with fashion brands, but today the store just didn't choose wisely.  Just what I want to get my daughter for Back To School; socks with self-proclaiming  character flaws. Having my daughter wear these like a banner, telling the world that she's a brat or trashy... is well trashy. 

You can look any number of places and see how devalued our society from every angle tells our girls how to look, how to dress, and how little worth they have.  It's up to us, dads included, to make sure we don't let the world tell our daughters who/why they are, but we must fight against the grain to ensure our daughters have a platform that will propel them to their individual excellentness.  

Think globally, shop locally, and pull up a chair, this might take a minute.

I stirred up quite a crazy debate today. I said one thing about local businesses, and I was quickly flooded with opinions from both sides of debates. I think this is something that needs to be discussed. I love local businesses, in fact, I come from a long line of personal business owners. In my short life have worked with many local businesses and enjoyed them.

All that being said, I have noticed a trend in Amarillo and I don't think that it's a very good marketing trend. I have affectionately called it "banking on local." This trend consists of local companies only differentiating themselves from the chains only by being local. I'm not impressed. People of Amarillo are a lot more creative than that, and if they aren't, there's another empty storefront.

Local companies must think globally, and be ingenious. Creative niches are how to get the job done. I have friends that own The Ground Cafe in Amarillo. This little coffee shop on the ground floor of the Chase Tower in downtown Amarillo has created such a buzz you'd think they were the original coffee shop in Amarillo. There are other local coffee shops, and yes there is Starbucks. They compete and very successfully I might add, because they know who they are, and they put themselves in the right place. They sell good coffee and they sell it at a smart price. I talked to them about this how microcosm of local versus out-of-towners, and this is what they said, "We wouldn't be here is Starbucks wasn't in town." They carved their place because a national chain brought relevance to their shop. They built The Ground Cafe about 8-9 years after Starbucks had been in town. There attitude to their customers is, "We don't want our customers to feel bad if they go to Starbucks, WE go to Starbucks." They don't see the national chain as competition, but a vehicle where by they can be seen and heard because they created a place in Amarillo. They are local, and they are good, and they compete because they are good at what they do (and they are the nicest people I know).

So, Amarillo business owners, I get it, you're local. I hear a loud and clear.... BUT, if you think that's enough, I think you're sadly mistaken.