“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
― Jane Eyre
The above lines indicate a freedom of choice. To live on one's own terms, to make choices (right or wrong)... to love without being scared of persecution
And yet, there are so many people who have been robbed of that choice for so long. And not merely by friends, family or society, but also by law. An archaic law, which was created basis on someone's idea of how life should be led, and enforced on others. In India, this was called Section 377.
Our legal system finally saw the right in the battle led by so many. Those many people, who fought against all odds, who did not care that this could land them into so much legal trouble.
6th September 2018 will go down in our history as a landmark day. A day when the right to make your own choices was granted to a big section of our society.
And yet, this is only the first step in a long battle. The cultural mindset of not just our society, but also many more, still has to change. There is a big section of the society which still believes in a "natural" way of doing things, and anything which does not conform to that, is either looked at with a lot of suspicion, or downright hostility.
I remember a few years back, a friend of mine came out to a couple of us. And I only realized later how much courage it must have taken them to confide in us. How much they would have trusted us to understand and be supportive. How difficult it must have been in all the previous years to hide this from the majority of our peers, friends and family. And how unfortunate it was that it was so so difficult. Yet today, this isn't something that needs to be legally hidden anymore at least, even thought those mindset barriers still have to be broken.
The reaction on social media itself spoke volumes. While no one openly opposed the move, you could still see two lines of thought coming through. There was of course one section of the crowd, who welcomed the move as something which was long overdue. And so you would hope the enlightened crowd on your timelines to react.
And yet there was also that section which tried to subtly point out otherwise on various forums. There were questions like "Would you still be ok if this was your son or daughter?"
We need to reach that stage where people realize that the only thing which matters is for those close to you to be happy. That happiness may not conform to your idea of how they should live their life. And it absolutely doesn't have to. They are not obligated to you in any way. So please learn to respect their decision, and be happy in it.
When we are able to do that, that is when the battle will finally have been won...
Comments
Post a Comment