Taking Back the Fairy Tale…

The fairy tales were not written by kings or minstrels.

Everyday people wrote these stories and told them to each other to remind us all that we are precious—and that we can succeed against all odds.

The princess stories are an especially great example: A princess might have to survive a dragon attack, a marriage to the highest bidder, an ogre’s attempt to steal her babies, or a stepmother’s command to cut out her heart.

Today’s problems are not much less horrific.

Some women have to survive the extraordinary evil of human trafficking. Some women have to find lost babies who were stolen from them at the US border. Some women have to deal with the fear of police breaking into their homes and shooting them in the middle of the night.

This is awful. This is not how a society should be. It’s time for change, for compassion, and for new ways of leadership. It’s time to take into much greater account the needs of those facing such terrible traumas.

Once again, I feel that the fairy tales are a good guide. You see, what I like about the fairy tales is that a princess is still a princess no matter what terrible experience she goes through. Nothing can tarnish her true and inherent worth. In many stories, some hero goes to the ends of the earth to rescue her and bring her back to a status of power. In other stories, she rescues herself. Or she opens a tavern and feeds the poor and eventually rescues the hero. Or the princess realizes that she’s really a he, and he becomes a hero and rescues another princess.

In short, the only guaranteed way to stop being a princess is to become a hero or a queen.

I picked the title “Princess Awakening” for this book series because now is a time to rise. Now is a time to recognize the inherent worth in humanity and in the world around us. Now is especially a time to see the princess in everyone, regardless of race, gender, orientation, creed, class, ability, age or other circumstance.

If this book speaks to you because you are a survivor, I hope that you take heart. Your heart is powerful. Your story matters.

Here are a few resources that might be helpful—whether you want to receive help or to give it!

Restore NYC is one of the nation’s leading organizations supporting international survivors of human trafficking.

Loveland Foundation provides a fund supporting Black women and girls to get therapy support from Black therapists.

Immigrant Families Together helps post bail, find housing and reconnect families who were separated through undocumented crossings at the southern US border.