Marilyn Rainwater is one helluva candidate who never intended to enter the unwieldy political machine. She was a child advocate for decades in Oklahoma, where the plight of children is not pretty. For 16 years she was a supervisor in the Child Welfare Division. With insider knowledge from the agencies serving children up to the Oklahoma capitol, she realized that she needed to high tail it into the political arena, to be an honest, powerful voice for children.
When Marianne Williamson created Sister Giant, a conference set up to create a substantive conversation about women and politics, it was a no-brainer to include Marilyn Rainwater (left). The conference was held the weekend following the November 6 election; Marilyn had just lost her bid for the State House of Representatives, though not by much, but she'll certainly be winning next time if this conference was any indication.
After Marilyn ended her speech, an inspiring call to action for all the women in the audience (present at the event at the Saban Theatre in Los Angeles, or joining around the country and globe via live stream) to get into politics and be a voice for our children, one woman from the audience walked briskly and forcefully up to the stage.
When the woman reached the stage she turned around, faced the audience and threw her arm up into the air like the Statue of Liberty and said, "The first ten dollars for Marilyn's next campaign!" She slapped it onto the stage floor and walked away. Seconds later a steady stream of women heralding cash in all denominations used every access to the stage to joyfully, respectfully throw their money into the pot.
The cheers and exultations didn't end until Marianne and her staff had collected the last dollars from the audience and put them into several bags to be showered upon the rainmaker herself, Marilyn Rainwater.
Marianne had opened the conference by sharing the frightening fact that female hyenas protect their young better than we do. Female hyenas circle their young while they eat, protecting them against the males who will try to steal their food. Any food left is shared with the males. Nearly 15 million children, or 21% of our children in the United States, live below the poverty level. Millions go to sleep hungry.
The call to action by Marianne, Marilyn, and several renowned speakers was for women to wake up and realize that if we don't step into the political arena and/or support other women who will brave its dangerous ground, we cannot protect our young.
Follow Marilyn at her official site and read about the other brilliant minds who were at Sister Giant, calling all women to step into political action.
