It's a strange world after all!
This morning i finally had some time for myself and for me the best way to utilize it, is to go through my old writings. Yes i'm mundane and i know it. These were essays from school. Creative writings as they call them. I still remember the depression soaring every time we were asked to write. I hated to write once. Probably because back then it was compulsory. Now it's more to do with my own desire to compose, when and how that is. Isn't how you become a good writer?
So as i was rummaging through old text books, i came across an essay i was asked to write in my 7th grade. Counting my years back, it must be 12 years ago, if not more. The essay was titled " Strange Couple". The class as dictated by my English teacher then, was supposed to compose an essay about a couple who seemed strange. It was all a game of imagination. So without further ado, i started penning down. The couple was pretty clear in my head because it was just a few days back a friend read me a news regarding the "emergence" of lesbian couples. So i had it. The idea was strange and i loved it. Now that i think,it was actually very funny. Back then it was fresh and most importantly it was based on reality.
A girl married another girl. If you belong to my era, you can vouch for it, that in those days for a seventh grade student, a couple was just two people living in a home, hanging around and probably doing chores together. Nothing more. Making babies was a distant thought. The "strange"part basically implied to the fact how society saw the couple because for the two girls it was all normal. Very confident-ally, i finished writing this essay and handed it over to my English teacher to mark.
The next morning my teacher told me that the principal wanted to see me. Irrespective of me asking as to why,he stayed silent. Now that i think of it, i find the whole expression on his face very humorous. He wasn't angry,no. He wasn't amused. He was unsure. He was adamant that i had sinned. He just didn't know what to call it. The sin of scripting a fact he disapproved of, maybe?!
So i was at my principal's office who was accompanied by my mom. They called my mom because i had written about a lesbian couple in school. Imagine!Then i was told off. I was told that i needed to see what i was writing and i should see where my limits lie.It was an insult back then. I felt it in my veins. It was too much to take in. The only thing that gave me hope was my mother. She argued that it was no big deal and didn't buy the obnoxious views the principal had. I absolutely adore my teachers and my school.That was one point of time when i hated them.
Did writing about a lesbian couple made me un-islamic, made me support them or made me one of them? None! But the teacher interrogating my writing which was by all means based on reality, made me question his thought process. Why do we hide things here? Yes there is always an appropriate time to discuss things with kids but who is to decide which one's that? Take for my example for instance, after the meeting with the principal i actually thought i had done wrong and i might never be able to face the world again.I was emotional and dramatic, I still am. But then i was sure it's all happening on the other side of the world and its all true. How could have my teacher denied it?
After all these years when I've known lesbians and gays, have had a good western exposure, it's all very hilarious. The sad part however is, knowing humans a bit, if my sister writes the same essay today in her school i'm pretty sure that the teacher will create a scene out of it too. Some people are not accepting and its terribly wrong.The episode didn't harm me in anyway, Their point of view didn't influence mine. Didn't make me hate lesbians, most importantly. It's just a memory. An interesting one. The one i will always want to keep.
Never shun a kid's imagination. Let it come out. If it's good, appreciate. If it's bad, confront it with facts. If it's strange, enjoy because it's a small and strange world after all!
So as i was rummaging through old text books, i came across an essay i was asked to write in my 7th grade. Counting my years back, it must be 12 years ago, if not more. The essay was titled " Strange Couple". The class as dictated by my English teacher then, was supposed to compose an essay about a couple who seemed strange. It was all a game of imagination. So without further ado, i started penning down. The couple was pretty clear in my head because it was just a few days back a friend read me a news regarding the "emergence" of lesbian couples. So i had it. The idea was strange and i loved it. Now that i think,it was actually very funny. Back then it was fresh and most importantly it was based on reality.
A girl married another girl. If you belong to my era, you can vouch for it, that in those days for a seventh grade student, a couple was just two people living in a home, hanging around and probably doing chores together. Nothing more. Making babies was a distant thought. The "strange"part basically implied to the fact how society saw the couple because for the two girls it was all normal. Very confident-ally, i finished writing this essay and handed it over to my English teacher to mark.
The next morning my teacher told me that the principal wanted to see me. Irrespective of me asking as to why,he stayed silent. Now that i think of it, i find the whole expression on his face very humorous. He wasn't angry,no. He wasn't amused. He was unsure. He was adamant that i had sinned. He just didn't know what to call it. The sin of scripting a fact he disapproved of, maybe?!
So i was at my principal's office who was accompanied by my mom. They called my mom because i had written about a lesbian couple in school. Imagine!Then i was told off. I was told that i needed to see what i was writing and i should see where my limits lie.It was an insult back then. I felt it in my veins. It was too much to take in. The only thing that gave me hope was my mother. She argued that it was no big deal and didn't buy the obnoxious views the principal had. I absolutely adore my teachers and my school.That was one point of time when i hated them.
Did writing about a lesbian couple made me un-islamic, made me support them or made me one of them? None! But the teacher interrogating my writing which was by all means based on reality, made me question his thought process. Why do we hide things here? Yes there is always an appropriate time to discuss things with kids but who is to decide which one's that? Take for my example for instance, after the meeting with the principal i actually thought i had done wrong and i might never be able to face the world again.I was emotional and dramatic, I still am. But then i was sure it's all happening on the other side of the world and its all true. How could have my teacher denied it?
After all these years when I've known lesbians and gays, have had a good western exposure, it's all very hilarious. The sad part however is, knowing humans a bit, if my sister writes the same essay today in her school i'm pretty sure that the teacher will create a scene out of it too. Some people are not accepting and its terribly wrong.The episode didn't harm me in anyway, Their point of view didn't influence mine. Didn't make me hate lesbians, most importantly. It's just a memory. An interesting one. The one i will always want to keep.
Never shun a kid's imagination. Let it come out. If it's good, appreciate. If it's bad, confront it with facts. If it's strange, enjoy because it's a small and strange world after all!
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