I remember one early
morning about three years ago when I was on my way to my university, a young man hung himself in a tree. The body was covered with a white
sheet. The body was not taken down till the police came. I remember
it vividly now. The weather was gloomy; the scene was very artistic. I saw Antonio Vivaldi by the tree playing his Winter piece. All what I
could think at that moment was 'at last, he's free'. Suicide has nothing to do with how religious or how much of a believer
you are. I had had suicidal thoughts ever since I used to be very religious. I
had had them when I became irreligious. I stopped having them when I realized I
have to earn the keys to my chains, and I had only two paths to choose from; either commit suicide,
or take that one huge step towards living for me and only me.
My
family has always been financially stable: I ate good food, slept in a warm
bed, spent the summer holidays at the beach, ate ice-cream, and played in the
neighborhood with the boys. My childhood was fine compared to my adulthood. You
see, ever since my uterus started to bleed and
my breast started to grow, my life started
to change radically without even being asked. I needed to start learning how to
be a lady, so my family prevented me from going out to play with the boys in
the neighborhood. I was no longer allowed to go out except to go to
school; you can imagine how hellish the holidays used to be. I could not
receive a female friend at my place without having my mother eavesdropping on
us. I could not pick up the phone to have a simple conversation with someone
because all my family would be harassing me. The only boyfriends I could have
were imaginary ones about whom I would write imaginary things in my diaries. Of
course I had a few boyfriends in high school, but they were very short term
ones because with my up-tight life style, I could not get out with them, call
them or even text them. Hell, I could not even go out with female friends. They
would even choose my friends for me. I used to be constantly terrorized. Even
when I am home alone I would imagine my mom putting surveillance cameras to
tap my phone calls. I know this sounds silly. It does sound silly to me now.
But back then, it sounded very logical. I believed it.
The terror escalated
when my brother turned from my best friend into my biggest enemy. This
transformation also happened when he hit puberty. Somehow, society explained to
him that he needs to be a 'man'. And by 'man', they meant someone who is a macho,
misogynistic being who constantly tries to fill in the gaps of his weak
egoistic existence by unlawfully/wrongfully controlling his female counterparts to convert them into the slaves of the
patriarchal dominion.
Is this my fault? Am I the victim of the scars that these people left me for life? Or have I fallen victim to my own dark thoughts?
