Saturday 22 May 2010

Freedom and Independence...

...are not just the names of the two spaceships from the movie "Armageddon"... nor just concepts people of the centuries past liked to declare and even gave their lives for... they are not urban legends... They are what every one of us deserves and is responsible for... I have always striven to be free and independent... Since I was very little, I did not allow society, religion or family to impose on me restrictions of the "conventional" type, I imposed my own on me and I have lived my life following the basic rule of "treat others the way you want to be treated"... 

I left my parents' house at 19 to study and 7 years later I even left my parents' country, following exactly these two: My freedom and my independence! I have not caved in to social conventions and I have kept free from political, religious or social pressure to lead a certain life that follows their rules... I have never, ever,  thought that because I'm a woman there are things that I will not be allowed to do and I have never felt, nor will I feel, inferior to any man merely because he has testicles. The qualities of human beings are not defined by their reproductive organs and their freedom and independence does not, and should not, depend upon them organs either.

So when I see a woman, under the hot May sun (which finally blessed us all here in The rainy Netherlands) covered from head to tow in black cloths, I do not see freedom nor independence... and my heart weeps for all those women who fought for our right to get out of the covers, out of the house, to have the right to work, to an education, to our choices, to have the right to do what we decide with our bodies... I weep and I feel that all those women are being betrayed every time one more of us has to cover up to get of the house, every time one more of us chooses to give up freedom and independence this way...

Yes, I have heard many times the arguments of the other side, I have heard women say they chose to follow these rules, they chose to behave like this... I don't buy it!! And your comments are all welcome but, being a free woman, I have the right of my opinion and I have this forum to make it public. And my opinion is that it is a disgrace for women to have, or to choose (if you prefer...) to cover up their heads and bodies with bed sheets to go out in public, like ghosts! So I will state the obvious and say that freedom and independence are better than the best shoe ever made and even the ones not made yet and that it is the responsibility of all of us to cherish them... because if we give them up on our own, in my opinion, we will eventually lose the right to them...

1 comment:

Andorinha said...

E quem fala assim, não é gago.