i am sassa

Angela Merkel is arguably the most powerful woman in the world.

She was the first woman ever to serve as Germany’s chancellor, a title she has now held for fifteen years. Angela has stated that she will not be seeking re-election, so she’s currently in her last term as head of government. Her approval ratings all over the world are extremely high, due in part to her largely applauded response to the Coronavirus outbreak.

Angela was an unlikely political figure, and is not super duper keen on being in the public eye. It took a pandemic for her to make an unplanned address to her nation, something she hadn’t done in her entire fifteen years. Where she’s had critics, they’ve often taken stabs at her for this lack of public display, as well as for being quiet and taking her time when it comes to decision making. I took away a different viewpoint from what I learned about Angela today.

She says she takes her time to make a decision, but has rarely had to go back on her choices. One person I heard talking about her in an interview described a scene in which other world leaders were in a frazzled brawl, fists flying rapidly and furiously. In that situation, he said, Angela would be perfectly still until she threw a single, calculated punch that ended it all. When I picture it, she’s the only woman in the room. Which I’m sure she’d be fine with, since that’s been the case for much of her life. Angela’s had to deal with her share of crap from the patriarchy, including that one time that Vladimir Putin brought his giant black lab to a meeting with her. She is famously terrified of dogs, and ol’ Pooty just sat there with a Trump-eating grin while his dog sniffed her. Angela remained composed, and later responded with this:

"I understand why he has to do this — to prove he's a man. He's afraid of his own weakness. Russia has nothing, no successful politics or economy. All they have is this."

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Poot.

Before any political aspirations had taken hold on her, Angela was the only woman at the East German Academy of Sciences who was pursuing theoretical chemistry. She has a degree in Physics, and a Doctorate in Quantum Chemistry. That whole calculated punch thing really makes sense now, huh?

Thank you, Angela Merkel.