I am surrounded by people who enjoy annoying me. And it's very easy for them to do that because I hold many, many things close to my heart. I am quite serious about these things. Things like equality, education, and human rights and responsibilities. Things that I feel, really matter.
I have a housemate who gets a kick out of teasing me about these things.
He'll say things like:
"Kris, go about your womanly duties and serve me some food."
And I feel a burning to the left to my chest. It always gets a response from me. I cannot help but get annoyed.
I wonder why nobody else gets as annoyed as I do. Maybe it's due to the fact that I'm studying these things. I've always been passionate about these issues and now that I'm studying stuff like humanities in uni, I am made even more aware, and the burden is heavier. Maybe it's the freedom I had as an individual growing up (thank you mum and dad) that makes me cringe at the thought of a role that so confines me to 'my womanly duties'. I think a great woman is not about what she does, but simply who she is.
Maybe I'm just too serious. Too sensitive. It's just that, the reality is that I've heard of what mindless structure and tradition can do to a person. When people are denied their basic human rights whilst others ignore their social responsibilities.
But now, I've chosen not to get fussed whenever people say this kind of thing. I know more often than not, that they don't actually mean to say that women are lesser or confined to a particular role...they merely enjoy the reaction I give. So I will stop giving them the reaction they so desire and nod.
I will practise the art of Mhmm-ing.
Having said that, it does not mean that I will do nothing. I'll just look for an alternative. I'll channel my energy from what I cannot do, to what I can.
2 comments:
why don't you just do it and pile coals on their head?
because i've found that more often than not, it's a waste of energy and time. And what's worse, it's usually exactly what they want.
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