Ladies, I'm going to sound-off on something that I find most irritating.

I take offense when some barely out of her teens female is referred to as a woman. This statement is usually made pertaining to some flavor of the month music star, model, or film actress. The influence of the visual media has affected the reasoning of the minds of the general public, it seems, for said public is quick to grant so lightly, to untried females, celebrities or not, a title that carries with it such weight of meaning.

A girl, Ladies, an immature, inexperienced girl, may, by virtue of her graduation from her teens, claim the right to the light weight title, young woman, but by no means, has she earned the right to the heavy weight title of full-fledged woman. Why, she hasn't lived enough of life! She hasn't savored enough of the sweet, or suffered enough of the bitter, to warrant such an honor. She has barely begun the journey of emotional, intellectual, and spiritual growth, that leads to the right to bear the title.

I was thirty the first time I thought of myself as a woman. I realized at the age of fifty, bestowing that title upon myself at that age was an audacious act. At thirty I may have had some small inkling of what it means to be a woman, but I was far from having attained the real status that accompanies the position. Finally, now at the age of fifty-four, I may state, 'I am a woman' with more soul felt certainty, and firm belief in my right to do so, than ever before in my life.

WE are women, Ladies. WE have earned the right to the title.

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