Deep Faith

It's so difficult for someone to sit in the sidelines and watch cultural and gender adversity happen to someone you care about. We all have multicultural friends and when you watch how a family develops within a set of deep-rooted cultural beliefs and expectations, it seems strange and alien for a person to "just live with it".

I have a friend who is much more than her culture and religion. I know the person behind the gold jewellery and heirarchy. I know that she has an internal struggle between what she knows are her rights as a person and her deep respect for her family. One side shows her committment to the belief system, but the other side shows that she just wants to break free from the 400-year-old-plus cycle. I have watched her grow up and have seen her and her family interact. I respect her and her family, but it frustrates me and makes me angry to see and hear about these new family dynamics.

I understand religion. I understand how societies depend on a belief system. I also understand people who don't follow religion or believe in it. With or without religion, wars and conflicts will still occur- on both society and internally on individuals.