I have a friend who stands on a cliff

I have a friend who stands on a cliff. It’s a high cliff, steep and sheer, and unforgiving. But she is not standing there preparing to jump. She is standing there in triumph. Not a final triumph, but a step in the road, a huge step towards a better future.

This is a cliff she has climbed from a dark, destructive and evil valley. She carries the scars from her time in the valley, and the scars she acquired when she climbed out. You can look at her and see nothing but a bright, fiercely intelligent, beautiful, empathetic and loving woman. But the scars are there, in the eyes occasionally, in the tears of frustration and anger at the injustice and ignorance and avoidance.

But she is above the valley, and she is secure in her position. There are cliffs behind that still need to be climbed, but she will climb those in sunshine, and in her own time, and under her own terms.

If you look closer you can also see threads, hundreds of them, winding into a rope that is tied securely round her waist. Each thread leads to a family member, a friend, some new, some of long-standing. And each one of them is holding fast, and will not let go.

Some where there as a rope to help with the climb, all are there to secure her place, and help with any future ascents.

I am grateful for every day I have known my friend, and for every day in the future that will include her, because she adds infinitely more than she would ever take, and she is welcome to take whatever and whenever.

I am in awe of the strength of my friend, of what she has emerged from, of the height she has achieved, and the summit she will reach. And through it all has retained her humanity, her spirit, her astonishing life force.

I am happy that she is on top of the cliff, in the sunshine, supported by those who love her.

But I am beyond angry that she had to suffer, and still has to suffer, because of the behaviour of one man, and the lack of understanding, or the intentional avoidance of understanding by so many who should know better.

And also for every other woman who has suffered, and still suffer, at the hands of men, and society’s blind eye.

A light is being shone into every one of those dark valleys, and that light should never go out. It needs to get brighter, and the threads wound into ropes should multiply to help each and every one to climb out.

I have a friend who stands on a cliff. She is amazing. She knows who she is.