Reflections

Raw Material

Prajakta27 Comments

Today, she decided to try on the mauve cotton suit. It complemented her frame beautifully and brought out the depth of her eyes. Innocently, she went about her way when alas, the seams ripped open. Just like the other time, when her black denim jacket unraveling at the shoulders.

Her friend had been facing a similar problem with her clothes. One day it was the yellow chiffon dress that tore down her back while some days later, it was the blue silk skirt that frayed all around the hem. It seemed that the tacks and safety pins held only for sometime until the clothes eventually fell apart, worse than ever.

No matter how many times they tried to repair their garments, change their tailors, use assorted fabrics or try out different styles, they never really held together. It was a frustrating time. It was a bitter time. It was a puzzling time.

Only a close examination made them realize that the material of their clothes had been of poor quality, handled with little care and mended without a thought. Of course, their stitching was not going to hold for long when the material itself was falling to pieces.

Just like the law can only do so much. Unless the mindset changes, no number of death penalties and rulings can make an impact on the horrifying rape and molestation cases taking place in the country. In fact, I’ll go to the extent of saying that law is just an easy way out. It is WRONG as a solution. Fear of death should not be the check-post for a criminal! The law may work for two minutes, but unless we examine and address the fabric of society’s perceptions, I do not really see an end to the number of ‘Nirbhayas’ the nation is producing.

27 thoughts on “Raw Material”

  1. It would seem that laws exist simply to administer appropriate punishment.
    The problem with relying on laws for peace and security, is that an inherent assumption is made that everybody will acknowledge the law and act accordingly. Rational people do not do the horrific things that we read about daily so, having determined that the perpetrators are irrational, why would we expect them to respect laws?
    “Unless the mindset changes…” is so true. Society must believe that men and women are of equal standing. Society must believe that if we are to be treated with respect, then we must treat others with respect. Society must believe that materialism is not the key to happiness.
    Society has so much to learn, but each of us can individually set examples, some of which may just be repeated by others …. and so the ripples will spread. 🙂

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  2. I like your metaphor. And I appreciate you sharing your strong feelings about this. I see on your Goodreads list, The Help. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. It’s a great story about women who in their own way refuse to accept the lower status forced upon them by the racial prejudice in the southern US in the 1960s. Perhaps there are parallels to your post?

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  3. Excess of Men and Deficiency
    oF HeART Spells Rape and
    PillAge for Human
    Males
    who have
    Lost their
    HeART
    And Self Esteem
    As Social Roles increasingly
    Fade Away as Humans are Replaced
    by Automation of Machines more and more..
    sMiLes.. my FriEnd.. Prajakta
    for this is
    one of
    Nature’s
    H A R S H
    Messages
    that we are
    out of Balance
    As Humanity and
    Until Developing Civilizations
    take back tHeir Evolution of
    Holding Hands together as Nature the
    Pay is inDeed Dire and Changing DArker..
    Nature
    has/is the
    Answer for
    Human Ignorance
    And Nature is no Angel when
    Pissed what ever Form it comes
    and goes next…
    in other
    Words
    Sure.. Love
    is the Answer
    but that doesn’t
    Happen in Environments oF Fear and Hate often sTiLL NoW
    And In General Raping and Pillaging of the Environment Whole..
    Chaos Requires Order and Really Laws and Punishment is
    all there is now..
    Beyond a
    Religion
    oF Love
    That is Real and Practiced.. Gardened.. and Raised
    As Life iN Doing More Than Words oF Old Religions Lost iN Fear and Hate..:)

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  9. Such an apt analogy, For a second I didn’t realize the path your write up is going to take. I agree with you, death penalty is not the answer but change has to begin from somewhere. I think its time men should standup and speak about it instead of us women talking about the equality. Until everyone feels that equality is a birth right, women aren’t object of pleasure, we can’t change the society or the mindset.

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    • Men are standing up I think. I don’t think this is purely a gender issue (of course it is a significant part) – most men around me seem equally appalled. It is how women are placed in our society and how we perceive them and ourselves. More often than not, I have been judged by women for taking a stand instead of men. It’s horribly confusing!

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      • We all tend to be a product of our upbringing, until something significant happens in our lives that changes things. While there are many men who think that equality should be an undisputed fact of our society, so many are still displaying the standards of their parents. While there are many women who are actively fighting for equality, so many do not feel they have a right to fight society (i.e. they are still displaying the standards of their parents.
        Regardless of the pessimism expressed in earlier Comments, generational changes will impact this issue. So we can be pessimistic and resign ourselves to the status quo, we can acknowledge the potential for generational change and be optimistic. If we are optimistic, we can then set examples of equality and perhaps speed up the process of change.

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