Water does nothing for fake flowers. So why are women still told to pour? Women are always told to give.To support, love, uplift, and protect—especia
Water does nothing for fake flowers. So why are women still told to pour?
Women are always told to give.
To support, love, uplift, and protect—especially men.
Even when those same men offer them nothing in return.
Not safety.
Not dignity.
Not peace.
Not even basic respect.
And still, the message echoes:
“Go back.”
“Try again.”
“Pray harder.”
“Cover him with your love.”
“He’s struggling—you’re strong enough for both of you.”
Even when he makes you feel unsafe in your own spaces and communities.
Even when he’s a threat in your own community.
Even when your body tenses at the sight of him.
They still say:
“Love him anyway.”
“Be the bigger person.”
“Be a good woman of faith.”
And worse—if you dare to walk away, dare to protect yourself, dare to name the harm—
they’ll say you’re the one who failed.
Meanwhile, your spaces are taken.
Your opportunities are handed over.
Your body becomes the shield.
Your silence becomes the offering.
And the world—the leaders, the movement, the community—watches you bleed in place.
And calls it “courage”, “allyship”, and “love”.
But what about you?
Who protects you the way they told you to protect him?
Who organizes long, sustained campaigns for the safety of women and girls—from male violence, from male presence, from male entitlement?
Who listens to her concerns—without mocking, shaming, dismissing, or spiritualizing them away?
Who hears her before the stalking?
Before the smear campaign?
Before the femicide?
Before the soul-wounding betrayal?
Who listens—without needing proof in blood?
Because here’s the truth:
Water does nothing for fake flowers.
You can pour until your spirit runs dry,
but if there is no root, no accountability, no transformation—
it doesn’t matter how good your heart is.
It doesn’t grow.
It never will.
And if you’re exhausted from giving, broken from defending, lost from staying loyal to something that never protected you…
you are not wrong.
You are not bitter.
You are not cold.
You are wise.
You are waking up to a truth generations before us were forced to whisper:
You don’t have to die on an altar that was never built for your healing.
💬 Reflective Question:
Who asked you to keep pouring? And what will you do now that you know they were wrong?
Share if you feel safe and ready—your voice might be the lifeline someone else needs.
And if you do share, remember to cite the messenger.
Words carry legacy.
[wesurviveabuse.com] | [survivoraffirmations.com] | [rosaschildren.com]
