Dear women of the world,

some time ago i paid my wife a compliment. Since that doesn't happen so often, it was noticed in very high places. In fact, suddenly a ray of sun filtered through the clouds and I heard a deep voice:

- Man, you were fair. I will give you a prize, in the hope you'll be always fair from now on. Come on, tell me your desire.

I was still looking around, since I could not understand where the voice was coming from and there was nobody in sight, when I heard it again.

- Hey, what are you looking at? I'm here, up above you.

I looked at the sky, but the sun was dazzling me and I could see no one. So I asked:

- Who are you? Are you God? Wow... so do you really exist?

- God, Manitou, Allah... human bullshit. I am, fullstop. The name you give me, it's your own business. Like Miles Davis said once, "call it anything". So, your desire? Beware, I cannot wait for you from here to eternity.

In the end, I'm a happy man. I had to think a lot to find something I really could desire...

- Listen, how-do-you-call-yourself up there: I made up my mind. I'd like to have a new operating system. I want it as nice as Mac OS X, and as stable and fast as Linux. Don't worry, I won't even take Windows in account. I'd love it to be open, free for everyone, natively compatible with any program and any piece of hardware, easy to use even for dummies, self-installing, bug-free and with no need of updates. And no crashes. Wouldn't it be cool? Eh?

- Are you crazy? If I give you something like that, what will all those geeks do out there with Linux? And who in the Hell will still buy a Mac or Windows? We're going to destroy the only two companies that still make good bargains. Oh, look, I should have known it: there's Steve, he's already gesticulating at me... you know, he's been with us for a short time yet, sometimes he forgets to forget his past worries. Oh, and Bill... I'm sure that it would cause him a heartache... I'd risk to have him here before his due time. Well, man, not that I would not be able to do what you asked for... I'm sure I could do it even better than you can imagine, but... It would make the world a big mess... espionage, murders, wars, tears... Listen to me, son, forget it. Think about something else.

I felt a bit frustrated, but suddenly I had a great idea:

- Alright. Operating system forgotten. Instead, please teach me how to understand women.

After a few minutes of silence, I started thinking he had gone. Or maybe it had been just a dream.

- Hey, are you still there? Mr. Anything, are you there? Mr. Fullstop?

- Yes, yes, I'm still here. Oh, holy God. Well... Hey, What features did you say you want in that operating system?

Today is Woman's Day. A day with a great symbolic value, but unfortunately not a true celebration.
We will be actually celebrating women only when we won't need a Woman's Day anymore and we will be able to keep the memory and forget symbols.
When respect and equal opportunities will be real and not just empty words, good for slogans.
When pink quotas will be spontaneously enforced, not by law.
When humiliations, violences and rapes will be so much far in the past that the mere thought that they were really perpetrated will sound incredible.
When nobody will treat a woman like an object.
Then, and only then, we will be celebrating women - and ourselves.

Without women, there would be no future - and I'm not thinking about biological facts - because without women the world would be a sad and terrible place where to live.

Women, please never ever give up. I'm sure our future is in your hands. We men already did too much a mess, and the only good things we've done sometimes, were done with you or for you.

And let me tell you a secret. The fact that we men -so linear and expectable- just can't understand you sometimes, it's a very good thing. At least, we have to keep our heads up. You can think what you want, but believe me, it's lots of fun