Truths

I have long avoided watching Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" because I knew it would scare me. To a certain extent, I did believe that ignorance is bliss. However, fate, or the useless-ness of cable television on weekends, forced my husband and I to face the aptly titled 'inconvenient truth' of the situation around us.

The rapidity of the world deteriorating is so heart-wrenching and frightening. I keep thinking "What am I to do? Me? A single soul? Can I help? But wouldn't that mean I'm approximately 1 out of thousands who actually care?" Now, that to me is ignorant. I am ashamed. I now realise that there's a reason why people are starting to put up recycling bins/centers at malls and housing areas. Or that when you walk in the electronics aisle in the grocery store, there's an entire self of energy-saving bulbs.

People do care. And it's about time I joined them without worrying if no one else is doing it. What's important is that I AM doing it. For me. For my family. For our children. Think of the earth as an heirloom. You need to pass it down from one generation to the next, and it needs to be in good condition.

True, that people say that the decaying of the planet is a sure sign that Yaumul Qiyammah is near. Very near. But that does not mean we should sit on our overindulged rears and wait for that day to come while the planet is being destroyed. At least we should do something to nurture the situation until the day comes.

That's the truth.

Another truth was revealed to me as I was watching "The Other Boleyn Girl". Is it not degrading to see women being traded like cattle to elevate the status of men? To have fathers and uncles strategically placing you in the beds of important men so that these men will favour your family with land and ranks and a life at court. Family ambition, it's what it's called. But the truth is that.

Women are seen as objects, rather than a partner or an equal. Granted no man or woman shall be equal for we both have different purposes, different functions. (Oh my, I must have angered some feminists with that statement!) It's a sad truth. But it is truth. This was in the Tudor age. However, for some parts, it's still true now.

Many families still marry, or at least attempt to marry their daughters off for the sake of 'joining' families. It's no coincidence that the other family is of a rank or wealth or both. Marriage with benefits, I suppose.

I part with this note. Women may not be men's equal. They may be better actually. But even so, they should be respected above all. If you think it hard to be a man in this material-driven world, think of the women who, more often than not, need to work twice as hard to rise above the prejudice. It is no petty task. And please, for the sake of our planet, GO GREEN!

A liberated earthling and woman,
Anis