The East Community Guide - Gainesville, FL July 2018 The East Community Guide | Page 5

This evolution of fear has been proven through studies causing mice to be fearful of the smell of cherry blossoms .
Researchers taught mice to fear the smell by exposing them to a mild foot shock . Generations later , the offspring of the tested mice experienced fear and anxiety from the odor of cherry blossoms .
Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in 2013 also found that this ability to remember can be affected by the presence of immune-system factors in the mother ’ s milk . Chemokines carried in a mother ’ s milk were found to cause changes in the brains of her offspring , affecting them in later life .
How can we begin to comprehend the impact of the chemokines in the milk of the slave woman , breastfeeding her newborn , when all of her previous children have been snatched from her arms and sold ? Has the DNA of being subservient and the acceptance of inferiority birthed its way through generations of women ? At what point were the creators of life crushed into a role that today needs affirmation from quotes on the internet ?
The revealing words of this 16th century “ mystery document ” are an explanation of the acceptance of some societal norms that still exist . This note , stumbled upon in a second-hand bookshop in Australia , reads :
“ Woman is to win everything by peace and love ; by making herself so much respected , esteemed and loved , that to yield to her opinions and to gratify her wishes , will be the free-will offering of her heart . But the moment a woman begins to feel the promptings of ambition , or the thirst for power , her aegis of defense is gone . All the sacred protection of religion , all the generous promptings of chivalry , all the poetry of romantic gallantry , depend upon a woman ’ s retaining her place as dependent and defenseless , and making no claims and maintaining no right but what are the gifts of honor , rectitude and love .”
The DNA for the need of “ aegis ” from anyone other than the creator of the universe diminishes the cellular and genetic ability to create life . On this Mother ’ s Day , women are continuing to fight not just to change laws , but to change attitudes of men and the woman in the mirror .
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