REBEL GIRLS
I am one of those original Star Wars fans. Born in a time before the likes of Moana or Katniss Everdeen, Princess Leia was my idol. A lone rebel girl in a sea of Sandra Dees and Daisy Dukes, I meditated on her character, wondering how I could turn out like her without a galaxy to save.
My oldest picked up on my old school love for Christmas last year, gifting me one of the latest books in the Star Wars universe: Leia, Princess of Alderaan. It is a prequel to Star Wars and describes the Princess’ trials to earn the official title of heiress to the family throne.
While she learns that there are many roads to leadership, in this story none of them hinge on her appearance. Not once does Leia worry about what she puts in her mouth or what her body looks like. We don’t even hear much about her famous hair. She is way more focused on the creepy power structures growing up around her.
Throughout this experiment, much of the concern has been focused on my youngest. Which is possibly misplaced.
A few weeks ago, my oldest walked into the kitchen on a Friday night. She walked to the refrigerator, opened it, poked at a few leftovers, and sighed. She closed the refrigerator, and opened the adjacent cupboard, pushed a few items aside so she could see to the back of it, and sighed. She lifted her shirt up slightly and put her hand on her belly.
I don’t know what to eat! I mean, I kind of know what to eat. I know what I want to eat, but it isn’t that healthy. I know I need to be more healthy. I don’t want to get fat.
Another heavy sigh.
Before I could speak, she left abruptly. As I was inwardly debating whether or not to go after her, she reappeared, re-energized, holding her phone aloft.
With a sardonic smile she read from a random Pinterest post: Every year, rich white sexist men make millions of dollars off of mine and every other girls’ insecurity, and if there is one thing I hate, it’s rich white sexist men, so I am going to keep on eating chocolate.
Triumphant, she sat down to her chocolate.
If my youngest eats sugar because she has felt deprived of it, then it seems my oldest is eating sugar because she wants to stick it to the man. Neither of these reasons have anything to do with actual nourishment, which is obviously more balanced. It includes chocolate along with oranges, pasta, kale, salmon, garlic, and so many other foods.
True nourishment can be hard to figure out. Even the Princess struggles with it. The Evil Empire provides her with the opportunity to exercise the altruism and bravery that her royal upbringing bread into her. What she lacks is any sense of who she is without her royal title. What does she like to do for fun? What does she want in a friend? What would she do if she wasn’t a princess? All of these questions make my heroine falter, and in many ways scare her more than sneaking into enemy territory alone.
While I am glad that my oldest is concerned with the creepy power structures around her, health results from worrying less about what she puts into her mouth means on the outside, and more about what it means on the inside. That is how she saves her own galaxy, and really becomes a rebel girl.