At lunch on Sunday a group of matronly women came in wearing red hats and sporting purple scarves. I had no idea what that meant. My wife casually said "It's the Red Hat Society". I must confess I had never heard of it. She said that the Hallmark company was promoting it. She said something about wearing purple when you are old.
I thouught back to a poem I had read by Jenny Joseph. You can read it at http://www.aztriad.com/pathmark/purple_poem.html. A woman declares that when she is old she will live her life free of worry about what others think of her. It is an anthem to freedom.
I discovered this movement started six years ago, by founder and "Exalted Queen Mother" Sue Ellen Cooper who gave the poem and a red hat to a friend who was turning 55. It apparently caught on and since then women have been joining in droves. Its members extol the benefits. There is no set agenda for chapters of the Red Hat Society. Each chapter makes up its own rules.
It is great for us all to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, especially when we get to the point where we are deemed increasingly unimportant in our American culture of youth. I think it is great to see so many women so involved. What I find intriguing is that for most of us, to find expressions of freedom, we must conform
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