My friend Charles and I get together frequently, and the conversation often turns to the dire state of things since the election of 2016. Last year, in the course of one of those conversations, I sank into a rare state of defeatism and despair. "Dear god", I said. "We really may be screwed."

Now, Charles is probably one of the most hard-nosed and unsentimental guys I've ever known. He lives in the world of hard facts. Nothing Kumbaya about this guy.

So what was his hard-nosed, unsentimental assesment?

"You're wrong, Ed.", he declared firmly. "It's going to be women. You'll see. Women are going to bring the change."

That seemed like sort of a surprising statement, coming from Charles. But I let his words echo in my brain, and I began to feel the truth of them. Waxing eloquent, I replied slowly:

"Yeeess. Yes. That's it. That's going to be it. Women are the sleeping tiger of the world. When the tiger walks, things are going to be different."

And now, sometimes when I least expect it, I get a strange feeling, and a sudden realization washes over me:

The tiger is stirring.

Sometimes it comes to me when things seem darkest.

The tiger is stirring. In the darkness of the jungle, the tiger is stirring.

I bear in mind that a tiger is a creature that moves in ways that are often outside of my understanding. It does not exist to fulfill my wishes, even the most noble of them. It does not heed my call, and it does not respond to my urging. It will move in its own way, and its own time, and not in the ways that I expect or anticipate.

But it is immensely powerful.

And I feel it, I'm sure of it: The tiger is stirring.

Oh, they think they have nothing to fear from the tiger. They think they have it cowed and tamed. They think they are strong. They think they are invulnerable.

But listen closely, friends, and listen closely, foes:

The tiger is stirring.