Love Diaries 5: Conclusion

Dearest Reader, this exercise has come to an end. Thank you for being with me all along. The goal was not so much the exploration of my love life. I was interested in demonstrating how not to allow one occurence, one stressor, one human; halt your life’s progression. At this juncture, if it pleases, I wish to offer non-jugmental counsel from my heart.

To the women: Learn to work. Beauty fades and does not pay. Virtue aside, consider this. Which is easier and more sustainable? 1) Showing up 8-5p to a certain workplace, collecting a guaranteed check every month, slowly saving to achieve your goals ____OR ____ 2) scouting the city for non-stingy-money-having-men. Managing their moodswings. Offering your body for consumption as though it is chapati. Dodging unwanted pregnancies and STDs. Praying he is in fact single & there will be no drama with girlfriends and/or wives. Wondering whether God is hearing your prayers. AND worse of all, having to restart this cycle every couple weeks because they get bored! I love you my sister.

To the men: There was a time girls could not go to school. In fact, as we speak, they still aren’t permitted to go beyond 6th grade in today’s Taliban ruled Afghanistan. There was a time they could not vote, not own land etc. More alarming is “Coverture”, abolished just a sesquicentennial ago (**new word alert- 150 yrs**), it held that a female person had no legal identity (can’t sign a contract, can’t open a bank account etc.) At birth, a female baby was covered by her father’s identity, and then, when she married, by her husband’s. As you very well acknowledge the after-effects of slavery, so too, I implore you to acknowledge the after-effects of patriarchy. You can do your part by deconstructing the toxic masculinity you may have been bred in. Please rest in knowing your masculinity is not under attack. What we seek is fairness/equality. Pure & Simple. I love you my brother.

~Infinite Blessings~

XOXO