I have 4 parents
I've had those moments like everyone else. Moments where I thought I had the best parents in the world. And moments where I wanted to do nothing more than run away from home. In fact, for me, it gets better (or worse, depending on how you look at it). You see, I have 4 parents. Two fathers and two mothers. So the moments of happiness were great, ecstatic almost. But the moments of sadness meant having four people trying to console you. Imagine having two mothers trying to feed you and two fathers worrying like a mother hen when tears appeared in my eyes. And imagine four people laughing when I gave myself up for adoption and no one took me up on it.
Like almost every other child, I've rolled my eyes and things my mothers have said. Usually when they traced the source of all my problems to the fact that I don't drink milk, or when they tell me to eat my dinner before I go out...for dinner. They would pinch my cheeks lovingly and tell me that I would understand when I had a child myself.
While it's true that I haven't really understood what it means to be a mother, over the last few weeks I have begun to think of a lot of things though, that I never really truly appreciated. Looking at the state of girls in my country, and all over the world, I now recognize the courage my parents must have had in deciding to bring me in to this world. In fact, unlike a major population of the country, my parents were ecstatic that a girl was born to them. I recognize their bravery and progressive thinking in bringing me up like have their sons, with equal freedom and opportunities to do what I wanted to do. Sometimes, even more opportunities than my brothers. I am sure there must be tongues wagging and eyebrows being raised at my parents encouraging me to follow my dreams. Be it working a job which makes me happy, but which sometimes results in late hours. Or doing a Masters in a field previously lesser known to most people. My parents have always taught me to stand up for what I believed in, even if most of the world turned a blind eye to the wrong doings of some people. They taught me to be who I wanted to be and never to be ashamed of myself or to feel lesser of a human being just because I was a girl. They have dealt with the waging tongues and raised eyebrows by themselves, never allowing it to reach me. And even if it did, they have wiped the tear before it could spill over.
I recognize now how difficult it must be for them to let me out in to the (sometimes) cruel world. How their hearts must beat fast every time they hear of a rape incident, or of a girl being harassed for dowry, praying that their daughter will never be one of those. It must made their heart bleed every time their daughter was disillusioned with the world for treating her differently only because she is a girl. And it wasn't a easy job restoring my faith either. But they did. Again and again and again.
So thank you God. For giving me double the amount of joy, and double the amount of blessings. While I sent out a silent prayer of thanks, I send another one. I pray that every girl has parents just like mine. Parents who teach their sons to treat women right, and who teach their daughters to be themselves, no matter what.
Like almost every other child, I've rolled my eyes and things my mothers have said. Usually when they traced the source of all my problems to the fact that I don't drink milk, or when they tell me to eat my dinner before I go out...for dinner. They would pinch my cheeks lovingly and tell me that I would understand when I had a child myself.
While it's true that I haven't really understood what it means to be a mother, over the last few weeks I have begun to think of a lot of things though, that I never really truly appreciated. Looking at the state of girls in my country, and all over the world, I now recognize the courage my parents must have had in deciding to bring me in to this world. In fact, unlike a major population of the country, my parents were ecstatic that a girl was born to them. I recognize their bravery and progressive thinking in bringing me up like have their sons, with equal freedom and opportunities to do what I wanted to do. Sometimes, even more opportunities than my brothers. I am sure there must be tongues wagging and eyebrows being raised at my parents encouraging me to follow my dreams. Be it working a job which makes me happy, but which sometimes results in late hours. Or doing a Masters in a field previously lesser known to most people. My parents have always taught me to stand up for what I believed in, even if most of the world turned a blind eye to the wrong doings of some people. They taught me to be who I wanted to be and never to be ashamed of myself or to feel lesser of a human being just because I was a girl. They have dealt with the waging tongues and raised eyebrows by themselves, never allowing it to reach me. And even if it did, they have wiped the tear before it could spill over.
I recognize now how difficult it must be for them to let me out in to the (sometimes) cruel world. How their hearts must beat fast every time they hear of a rape incident, or of a girl being harassed for dowry, praying that their daughter will never be one of those. It must made their heart bleed every time their daughter was disillusioned with the world for treating her differently only because she is a girl. And it wasn't a easy job restoring my faith either. But they did. Again and again and again.
So thank you God. For giving me double the amount of joy, and double the amount of blessings. While I sent out a silent prayer of thanks, I send another one. I pray that every girl has parents just like mine. Parents who teach their sons to treat women right, and who teach their daughters to be themselves, no matter what.
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