Perhaps this is a grim title for the new year when the months should stretch ahead filled with hope. Every time I hear a woman being attacked by a man or men I feel a sickness in my heart and wonder what can we do to stop this? How do we educate these monsters? My therapy is poetry. If I write about it, it frees my soul. It raises awareness. But in reality, the crimes of the world carry on regardless of our exchanges and horror. We are humans. We feel, we act, we kill, we torture. I tried to stop a fight the other day in a supermarket. A man was beating up a woman. I could feel the man's anger pulsating through his veins, his muscles, his rage spilling out, unstoppable like a tidal wave. I felt better for having intervened but close friends and relatives feared for my safety. How did I know he didn't have a knife? I didn't. I just acted on impulse and instinct. So for now I am taking resort to words. A poem dediated to the latest victim of gang rape in India, very close to Kolkata, my home town. The rape was an order from the village elders as a punishment for her falling in love with a non-tribal man. Such is justice in some parts of the world. Thirteen men have been arrested. Here is a tribute to the brave young girl who I believe is recovering in hospital.
Stop!
When will
it stop?
My vagina
is not a highway for you to ravage,
Your
strength does not exist purely to crush mine.
Why use me
to vent your anger at yourself?
To
humiliate, subjugate, torture a fragile human being;
Is this
your lasting legacy?
Is this
your sole purpose in life?
Does it
amuse you to soil me?
Does it
amuse you when they announce your death sentence?
It does not
amuse me.
I am
already dead.
A
Chowdhury Another gang rape in India January
2014
Dear Anjana, thank you for your words. I am filled with admiration and gratitude for your desire and ability to speak up when you witness violence. Not everyone dares to do that. Some of us are too afraid, some crippled with a sense of helplessness and futility. I agree that the dark side of human behavior and impulses will persist as long as there are humans, but it is still so powerful to use our voices to acknowledge and name this destruction. I know it doesn't always feel like much, but I do believe that the more of us who can see and speak clearly, the less and less power and momentum this evil will gain. Thanks again for your courage, Joy
ReplyDeleteWe must speak up and be even stronger than we have been in the past. Such acts are inexcuseable and always will be. STOP RAPE! Joan
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