Half the Sky

I'll bet most of you have heard about Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's book, Half the Sky:Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.  If you haven't, we'll just say that it's definitely on our must read list (hint, hint).

Now, we're particularly excited to share that they've made a four hour television series of the same name and it's previewing on October 1 and 2 on PBS.  There's more information here about that. (hint, hint again).

It's fairly common knowledge that the title comes from a Chinese adage that states, women hold up half the sky, but I also found this Chinese Folktale called, Holding the Sky, when I was looking it up that I'd like to share.

Holding the Sky

One day an elephant saw a hummingbird lying on its back with its tiny feet up in the air.

"What are you doing?" asked the elephant.

The hummingbird replied, "I heard that the sky might fall today, and so I am ready to help hold it up, should it fall.”

The elephant laughed cruelly. “Do you really think,” he said, "that those tiny feet could help hold up the sky?”

The hummingbird kept his feet up in the air, intent on his purpose, as he replied, "Not alone. But each must do what he can. And this is what I can do.”
 

(hint, hint)