THE DEMYSTIFICATION OF THE GOOD WOMAN
WOMAN, YOU STRAY.
The world is cruel and chaotic. For long I sought reasons to explain why there was so much pain and suffering among humans. We were the smartest and the most creative among all animals. We had the ability to create and to improve. We could reason and we could love, yet we were always fighting and competing. If it wasn't someone hurting someone, it was nature hurting us. I was really desperate for answers. Science was limited, so I looked into religion. And you know what I found out? I found out that religion does not think that I deserve to know. Not because I am not smart enough. Not because I am not tough enough. Religion keeps me in the dark simply because I am a woman.
So I said: “If all religions speak of the same god, but this god doesn't love me, then perhaps he is not a god after all, otherwise he'd treasure me for wanting to know him so profoundly”.
After which I put my faith in humanity and in myself. I accepted my limits and learned that life is a journey. I don't know everything today and I won't know everything tomorrow. But I know that the day after tomorrow, I'm going to be less ignorant that I am today and that is the beauty of being human.
WOMAN, YOU EGOTIST.
Have I ever lived for myself? Have I ever done something for the sole pleasure of doing it, without the worries of rewards and compensations? Was I taught to greet elders because it was polite to do so? Was I taught the importance of a clean home because it soothes the mood? Was I given the secrets of a fine cuisine because of the power food holds in our lives and over our souls? Was I sent to learn because they thought that one day I could be part of a change? Yesterday as I sat at my dressing table and listened to my mother and aunts telling me to remember everything that they had taught me and to forget everything that would have stopped me from being a good wife and a good mother, I decided that I was going to use all of that for myself instead. I had been trained to be perfect. I had been trained to be a god among humans, so, henceforth, I was going to be the first worshipper of my own self - an extraordinary human being.
WOMAN, YOU BLASPHEMOUS.
I speak of god as a man, maybe because he is. I mentioned his name so many times when I was in pain and distress, but he never came to my rescue. I was just one among billions of tormented souls. Why should I become so special now that I no longer want him? Unless he is the tormented soul that can't stand rejection, which would make him very similar to an ex of mine, whom I don't really want to talk about. If god can be angered by my questions, what makes him different from you that is angered by those same questions? Are you sure god is the angry one or is it rather you who want to make me believe that there is a god that is angry with me? Could it be that you are god? Could it be that it is your anger that is being blown out of proportion? What if I killed you? You wouldn't be angry anymore, right? And something tells me that even god would not be angry anymore either. If god feels just like you, then god is mortal because you are mortal.
WOMAN, YOU REBEL.
I need money. I need a purpose. I don't know which one comes first but they are both very important to me. I work for humanity, some others call it capitalism. Perhaps I'm just at the bottom of the production line, either ways, I have food on my table and a roof over my head. And don't forget that wardrobe that is grasping for air and the rack that is begging to be offloaded. There are seven days a week, thirty days a month and many days in a year. To cut it short, I work whenever I can and whenever I want. Don't hate me, hate the system. However something tells me this is not just about my working on weekends. This is about my working all together. Why shouldn't I? This is my house too. I eat too. I bathe too. And look, I'm consuming electricity right now. Why shouldn't I work and be useful to myself and to others? I don't need anybody's kindness or pity. If anybody has to give me money for anything, the pay and the frequency must be stipulated through a written contract. Unless I'm the one paying myself. I want to work and I will work. Working makes me free and being free is part of my humanity.
WOMAN, YOU WANDER.
Do you know that at some point there were only two of us humans, or even just one, before others came about? I wonder why people are so scared of being the first of something or the only one standing, especially if that someone has tits and a vaj. We all came from somewhere and we are all going to end up in the same way: dead. But it's also true that we all have to start from somewhere. Some get a head start. Some don't. Some start in a company, others start alone. I'm not scared to be a lone ranger. Unless you want to see my mother and have a picture of what I'll look like when I'm old. And of my father, so that you can discuss how much I'm worth. Perhaps you just need the address to their home so that you can always have a place to which you can send me back when you no longer need me. Well I'm sorry, none of your whims will be fulfilled. It's just me, so feel free to ask me any questions. And, by the way, my feet are planted on this rock. Here, in this right spot, are my roots and believe me they will sprout into an amazing tree.
WOMAN, YOU KILL.
I don't understand what you are talking about because the only murders I have ever committed are all in my head. The ex who lied against me. His girlfriend who fought me because of the lies he told against me and a host of other people who believed his lies and justified her vileness, among whom my birth father. Why are you surprised that I can have such horrible fantasies where people bleed and die? Can't I also bleed and die? So if I can bleed and die why do you think I can't imagine people who have hurt me bleeding and dying? We feel what we see and project how we feel, and right now, all I see are jerks. I feel hurt, so I want them to hurt too. It doesn't make me a monster. It makes me human. A human that thinks and rationalises. My thoughts are horrid to talk about but as long as they stay in my head, I'm allowed to have them. If now that you know all of this, you think I'm no longer a good woman, feel free to do so. Being a woman has never been a big deal to me any way. I'd rather be a person.
WOMAN, YOU CHEAT.
There are many reasons why people don't cheat. Among those reasons are fear, guilt and principles. I have always thought I was too good to cheat, even when the relationship was insignificant and a total waste of time. I'm a smart woman. What could be so difficult in telling someone what you are no longer feeling the va va voom or that you are simply fed up? And it's not true that people can cheat without a reason. Even the desire to cheat just for the sake of cheating is a reason. “I cheated because I wanted to cheat”. You might find it unsatisfactory but it's still a goddamn reason. When I finally decided to cheat, I had a valid reason. I wanted to hurt him. He had hurt me and he was unrepentant, so I decided to give him a taste of his medicine. I even wanted to pin another dude's baby on him. But hell, I hate kids. So I came up with something even worse than cheating: feigning indifference. “You caught me cheating? So what?” That killed him. Metaphorically, please. I felt so good. I felt so human.
WOMAN, YOU STEAL.
When did taking something that rightfully belongs to me become stealing? Even the UN says it. “All human beings are born with inalienable rights and freedom”. So after years of responding to my parents, then to my teachers, to my boss, I was told I had to respond to a husband. I wanted to travel abroad and they said I needed his written permission before they'd issue me a passport. When my child fell sick and I took her to the hospital, the doctor told me that they needed my husband's consent before they could commence treatment. When an uncle came to ask us for financial assistance and he met me at home, he refused to talk to me. He needed to speak to my husband. A man hits my car and tells me he will only discuss repair and costs with the owner of the car, who he thought was my husband. That car is mine and so is my child, the house, the money and my person. How dare you stand there and accuse me of trying to steal your privileges, masked as rights, just because I demanded to be treated with respect and dignity? Those rights are not yours, they are not even mine. They are ours for they are above us. Unless you live outside time and space, you can't covet it all. As long as you were born of a woman like me and you need oxygen to stay alive just like me, you had better be sure that I will demand that you add my name to the book of rights. Right there, write man and woman. Or just make it simple. Make it human.
WOMAN, YOU LIE.
Really? Now you call me a liar? Yet all those years I pretended and faked smiles and joy, you called me virtuous. When you hit me and I begged you to forgive me for whatever I did that I didn't even remember doing and that I was not even sure that I did, you called me humble. When you cheated and I begged you to forgive me for not doing what I was supposed to do which I was already doing anyway, you called me godly. When you belittled me for being who I am and I promised to be person you wanted me to be, even though the person that I was was perfectly fine and wanted by many, you called me submissive. Well today, I am telling you that those were lies. I am not humble, nor godly, nor submissive. I am human and I hurt. And I want to tell you that I hurt. You might think that I'm lying because hurting is not part of the definition of a woman because we are pain absorbers. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this is who I am and you are going to call me a liar so many other times, unless you admit it. Unless you look at me right now and admit that you can only relate to me because I'm your par, I will continue to appear as deceitful and manipulative as the devil. The devil is a liar, well so are humans.
WOMAN, YOU AVARICIOUS.
I want it all and I am going to have it all. Mother, now that I'm now longer interested in education, I do not wish to get married, yet. I want a job. I will work and make money. I will be comfortable. I will live well then I will make my choice. If and when I make my choice, I won't give up any of the things that I have earned. My name won't change and neither will my status. You will still address me as your daughter and you will keep your doors opened for me when I seek solace and comfort. You won't ask me if my husband is fine with that because I won't be living under a man, I will be living with a man. We will live together and work together. I will bring and he will bring. He can take what I give but he can't force what I won't. We will be lovers, friends, partners and parents. But we will still be us. Don't look at me like that mother. I'm not saying nonsense. Who said you had to give up who you were for what you became? My father and I were consequential. You could have done without us and you would have lived and lived even better. But you gave into the narrative of the good woman and believed us to be necessities without which you were nothing, so you took us as your everything. I'm not judging you, neither am I mocking you, but I do not wish to be like you.You will always recognise the child that you gave birth to and I will always cherish all the lessons that you imparted on me, because that is the gift I believe I owe you. The gift of me. The gift of being human.