You shall not raise
your voice to an elder, neither shall you talk back, especially when they are
wrong. They are older, and therefore the dregs of their foolishness is the
height of your wisdom.
You shall not evade
black tax. Rather, you must pay with maximum interest the years, time, and
energy invested in you, or as we like to put it, “wasted on top of your head.”
You shall not act
outside the boundaries of your gender, for to do so, is to undermine the powers
that be.
You shall not speak nor
write against bad governance, greed, and injustice. You must swallow each deed
of wickedness like spoonfuls of ice cream, best served cold.
You shall not pick
sides in family matters, rather you must defer to the matriarch and patriarch. They
are the grandmasters, you are only a pawn in the game that they play.
You shall remain loyal
to family at the cost of you. You shall smile at catty remarks and make no
mention of thinly veiled insults to the recipients. This is the rule of the family.
You shall not engage in
unseemly behavior. What is referred to as self-expression is only poison
seeping through the very fabric of your humanity, slowly killing you?
You shall not make any
efforts to be self-reliant until you are in the prime of life. You shall
stretch your cap to your rich uncles, your back bent, your eyes begging. Why make
an effort to be rich in your youth? Have you no respect for your elders?
You shall get married
upon the continued insistence of your relatives. Your purpose will be aligned
with that of your spouse.
You shall not have
unusual ideas about training your children. Your child is the property of the
family, religion, and the nation.
You shall repress your
sexuality. You will not discuss it, neither will you explore it. Only women who
have fallen from grace may do that.
You shall not live life
outside of your husband and children. Your life is tied to them. All others
come secondary. Your devotion is to your home, your god is your marriage.
All of these rules come
from a very sarcastic place. And they are rather true. Our oppressions are
distinctly familiar, each rule interlinking with another, until they form a
chain so strong that when we eventually break a rule, we are overwhelmed by all
the many rules that are lined up behind it. This sours our victory, leaving
behind dust in our mouths.
The very knots that ties us as humans.
ReplyDeleteVery powerful write.
Thank you!
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