The Day of the Girl Child
I like to begin with the case filed in the High court in Mumbai by a Couple, on the right of the Parents to select the sex of their next child. The Honorable Judge, in his statement said these words, “Sex selection is not only against the spirit of the constitution, it insults and humiliates womanhood. It violates a women’s right to life.”
Today we celebrate the Birthday of our Mother and also the Day of the Girl Child. God chose the Virgin Mary, from the moment of her conception to be the instrument of salvation. By her obedience she became the new Eve, mother of the living. The first Eve despite her disobedience, received the promise of a posterity who would be victorious over the evil one, as well as the promise that she will be the mother of all the living.
Sixty years ago, whilst the world awaited the birth of a new nation, the screams of the labour pains could be heard far and wide. India was undergoing the trauma of partition; scores of women were raped in the Partition Riots of 1947. The screams of women brutalized still resound in the ears of the many that lived through those dreadful events.
Only few years ago similar screams rent the air in the second-class compartment of a late night local train in Mumbai. The screams of a girl-child resounded in the early hours of the morning as a drunken youth brutally raped her.
Every time I pass that junction, said a women appearing before the Godra Commission, tears roll down my eyes, for I witness one of the most disgusting scene of a pregnant women being raped in broad day light, her stomach torn open and her fetus burnt in front of fanatic men, praising God.
Nothing seems to have changed: the rape of women then and the rape of women now – although we have got our freedom scores of women are awaiting their freedom. It is as if the darkness of the night still covers the nation.
Even today, 100’s of young girls are brought from Assam and sold in the flesh trade in Mumbai. Even today, 100’s of fetuses are aborted only because they are females. Even today girls continue to burn their childhood days in the kitchens of their homes, while their brothers goes to schools. Nothing seems to have changed. And nothing will change.
This about our nation, but what about our own families? Whether we like it or not there is some amount of injustice happening in our own families. Boys are given more freedom than girls. They can come home at any time, do what they feel is right and even enjoy the best. While Girls have to be on time, don’t talk to any boy, do all the work at home, yet get the worst when it come to family matters.
I just said that nothing will change. Yes nothing will change. Because as long as we come to church, day after day, go for novenas Wednesday after Wednesday, garland the picture of our mother, say the rosary faithfully every night, and yet continue to do injustice to the women in our families, nothing will change. Yes nothing will change until we learn to respect the women in my family, until we realize that even she has a right to live, even she has a right to walk shoulder to shoulder with her brother. The moment we realize this, things will begin to change.
A gentleman shared with me some thing this morning, and it fits very well with the message of today. He said that a devotee of Mary, who had visited all the shrines in India, died and went to heaven and the first thing he did was to go in search of Mary. And when he could not find her, he said to St Peter, I want to meet Mother Mary. St Peter replied, you want find Mary here, She is in the hearts to all those suffering on earth.
How true are these words. You want to honor Mary, start respecting women from today. Stop all those clumsy jokes on women, Stop SMS those lousy one-liners on women. Respect the women in you family. Treat them equally. Be bold and tell others to stop.
Women on you part learn to respect other women, stop gossiping about others. Give equal right & freedom to the girl in your family. Learn to respect your body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Mary will then be honored.
What better birthday gift can we think of giving Mary than this?
I like to end with this beautiful poem which appeared in the Examiner:
Oh! What's the use of this sudden new trend?
From times immemorial the world has been dominated by men.
They come and they go, do whatever they please,
Treat us like inanimate objects sent to earth for their ease.
Girl-Child Week! And what after that I pray?
Are we to go back to being mere objects of clay?
Pulled and pushed, pounded, squeezed, crushed and broken?
We don't need a Week... a meaningless token!
What we need, is a revolutionary change,
When we as God's creatures are given free rein.
To live, to study, to work and to play,
To be treated as equals to any boy any day.
To have our own lives, make choices, be at peace in our own space,
To use all our God-given talents and our Full potential
To better society and the human race.
KAY A. LOBO
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