But, I'm Here

I just finished A Colour Purple by Alice Walker. It was a good book, and I also liked that its protagonist was a African-American woman who, at first sight, is quite unremarkable. Not pretty, sassy or bright. Very plain, as they would say in England. She is a complex character who eventually finds her feet, but this blog is not a summary of the story. Some sentences from the book sprung out at me, and one phrase now adorns the wall above my desk. It simply says, "But, I'm here". The full quote from the book is: "I'm pore, I'm black, I may be ugly and can't cook ... But, I'm here". No demand for respect, no cry for acceptance, just a simple statement of fact and a quite assertion of her existence. A reminder that the space one occupies in the world should be occupied fully even when the world says you are not worthy of it. One has no reason to justify one's existence to the world.