...and that visibility which makes us most vulnerable is that which also is the source of our greatest strength.
Interpretation
Being open and visible may expose us to risk, but it also empowers us with strength.
Audre Lorde's quote highlights the paradox of vulnerability and strength, suggesting that our willingness to be seen and to reveal our true selves, while it can lead to exposure and potential harm, ultimately serves as a wellspring of our greatest power. Embracing our vulnerabilities allows us to connect with others, cultivate resilience, and draw on our inherent strengths.
In practice
In a motivational speech to encourage team members to embrace their true selves.
The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.
There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.
There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.
I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.
I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.
There's always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself - whether it's Black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc. - because that's the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else.
I've looked that old scoundrel death in the eye many times but this time I think he has me on the ropes.
It is hardly a moral act to encourage others patiently to accept injustice which he himself does not endure.
If I still had my legs, I would be in line for a battalion command, and instead, I'm flying a desk.
When you speak up about any sense of unfairness or injustice, you're told that you're overreacting, you're too angry, too silly-shut up already. It takes a tremendous amount of fortitude to be able to live in this world as a woman, let alone a woman who wants things to change.
Now, I've always known that there were bullies in the world. We've seen a lot of it in politics lately as well as in daily life. You see it where people who may be stronger, or bigger, or better with verbiage than other folks... show off. To me, that's what bullying is, showing off. It's saying, I'm better than you, I can take you down. Not just physically, but emotionally.
Become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.
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