The Tuesday conversation on “Issues After Dark: Ladies Night” with Dr. Michelle of Alabaster Woman Ministries, was about the challenges of “creating” Sisterhood, whether the concept is a myth or a must.

We live in fast times and most of us are on fast tracks that leave little time for relationship building. Our matriarchal ancestors did not have the distractions that invade our 21st century lives. They, in fact, worked very hard to stay connected. Because of the distance from one house to another, they had to plan get-togethers where they cooked and canned and sewed while they talked and caught up on each other’s lives.

Today we seem to have little time to connect in person; we text and instant message and tweet and facebook one another, but rarely do we sit down to break bread face to face, which begs the question, “Since we do have all these technological devices with which we can stay connected almost effortlessly, is this concept of Sisterhood a Myth or a Must?”

In the short story, “A Jury of Her Peers,” (http://www.learner.org/interactives/literature/story/fulltext.html) Susan Glaspell underscores not only the importance of Sisterhood and the deep need for women to be connected to one another, she also magnifies why women also need the heart to heart connection with other women and how isolation from those connections can drive one to desperate acts. It does not matter if we agree with the action taken by the wife in the story (or the apparent act of the wife), what the writer wants us to see (from my vantage point) is the absolute need for women to not just physically see one another, but that each woman would see as absolute necessity a Sister to Sister, Soul to Soul connection.

Sisterhood is not about similar journeys down similar paths; Sisterhood is about a linking of arms as women journey through life with a shared understanding that the journey is about more than just reaching a certain goal. It is about the sharing of ideas and ideals, a connection full of hope that each woman will live her best life and that every woman will celebrate her Sister’s victory and will come alongside as support, to be there to lift her up when she falls.

One key part to Sisterhood is that each woman must accept herself just as she is, scars and all. She must know herself from the inside out and come to a place where she embraces her history and knows the strength of her own voice. Once we accept who we are from the inside out, we are then empowered to extend our hands to our Sisters, an offering of help and encouragement as we all journey through this land.

The Myth? That we do not need one another, or that we cannot get along with one another. The Must? We must trample the myth under our feet as we strive to form Sister bonds that will endure the test of time.