I can see all that you tell her #1000Speak

I can see you tell her that she should not be friends with certain other children because they are not of your kind.

I can see you tell her how she should hate them because they fold their arms differently from you during prayer. 

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I can see you tell her how a ten year old boy is her enemy because five hundred or a thousand years ago, somebody else did something bad to someone else somewhere else.

I can see you instill fear in her of the consequences lest she choose to actually give them a chance at being friends rather than heed your warnings of a blanket hatred.

I can see you warn her that love for another man should never enter her heart until the day she is assigned a breeding mate by you, her parents.

I can see you warn her against daring to dream a dream for herself, one that may waver from the path you have drawn for her.

I can see you warn her of the closed doors of the house that await her should she dare go against the rules you have laid down, rules that seemingly differ from house to house across the world.

I can see her face fall and you ignore it as you hold steadfast to the goals you have set for her destiny, an unspoken tax you have levied from her life.

I can see her weep alone in her room, her tears failing to wash away the pain in her heart as she struggles to understand, a child filled with love trying to make sense of a world that is handcuffed to the hatred of the past.

I can see all this.

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And all I want to do is reason with you. To tell you to give her a chance to live. To allow her to make her choices even if it does match your visions of her life. To accept that perhaps, just perhaps, love can erase the differences that exist between the barriers you have erected for her based on deeds done by men long dead. To accept that she is capable.

And all I want to do is reassure her. To tell her that she has just one life so live it happily. To love and care for people rather than hate them without even knowing them. To be vigilant and judge people based on their personalities and character traits instead of invisible delineations made by someone else. To let her know that even if she falls in her journey, that it is okay; that she is not sullen. That it is a normal course on the road to life. That greater people than her have fallen, often harder, and risen to become legends.

I want to tell her and I want to tell you all this. But I do not have the words and I cannot find the means as I watch you imprison her, your own flesh and blood. 

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For I am just a dog. And a cat. And a rat. And a mouse. I am just a cow. Just a hen. Just a fly and a gnat. I am just every other animal on this planet, living beside you. 99% of the living population on Earth. And I - every one of me - knows that you are wrong. That these invisible lines that you draw caging your young within do not really exist.  That you are there to guide her, not enslave her. That it is not she but you who must accept that love and compassion for one another is the true path forward, not hatred.

Author's note:

No other animal on this planet can see or understand the differentiation we make between our fellow human beings and the reason why we hate someone we do not even know based on religion, culture or even gender. Is it possible - just perhaps possible - that over 99% of the living world has got it right instead of us?

In teaching your own beliefs in today's digital world that is far smaller and intertwined than the one you lived in, are you giving your child wings to fly in today's world.... or clipping them? Is it they who need to accept the big bad world of discrimination due to religious beliefs and societal norms and stay in the cages you have prepared for them... or you who needs to accept that they are a generation that can heal the world by forgoing the past and embracing the beauty of being different, enjoying the cultural vagaries that make life so magical and promoting the love and compassion for humanity that binds us all? 

Can you accept that they can undo the errors we have created or allowed to continue for generations?

To quote Yvonne, "1000 Voices Speak For Compassion is a blogging initiative started in response to violence and alienation in our world. "

This month, #1000Speak focuses on Acceptance. A thousand bloggers across the planet write in on a topic that most of us have dealt with in the hope of inspiring you to have faith in the good that exists all around you.  

You can see other brilliant blog posts on this topic here. 

You can also find #1000Speak on Facebook,Twitter, the blog or just by typing down the hashtag #1000Speak on social media.

I had written for #1000Speak earlier this year on:

1. Compassion 

2. Bullying

3. Nurturing

I am also linking to WriteTribe's MondayMusings.