Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people. (I think every book blogger I know has already been tagged with this one!)

I’ve been tagged by Fighting Windmills and Books on the Brain with the page 123 book meme. My teetering To-Be-Read pile had a copy of The Untethered Soul, by Micheal Singer in it and these are the sentences I found on page 123: You see that you’re too self-conscious to freely express yourself. You see that you have to stay on top of everything in order to be okay. Why?

Those lines got me thinking. A lot of people don’t care for Rosie O’Donnell. They say that she could do with a little less self expression, and I will give you that occasionally in her need to have her say she may have crossed a line that was hurtful or offensive to some people. On the other hand, I’ve sometimes envied her freedom to let it all hang out, to say “Hey, this is who I am and what I believe and I don’t care whether you like it or not!” Even in this land of the free and home of the brave most women are still raised to be good girls, and good girls are polite and helpful and taught to always put others first. While highly successful women who are outspoken and assertive are often portrayed in the media as being bitchy shrews. Politics aside, Hillary Clinton is an example of that right now. She’s either being slammed for being cold and overly aggressive, or for showing too much emotion. A girl just can’t win…or can she? The greatest gift we can give our daughters is the freedom to find their own voice, to believe that it is not only their right, but their obligation to express themselves and stand fearlessly in their own lives.

Oh yeah, the Rosie portrait up there, I did that with Mr. Picassohead!