Monday, October 16, 2017

Disobedience

Joe advanced menacingly towards Brett, his bloodshot eyes narrowed to slits.

“You dare to speak against me, boy? You dare to disobey me?” Joe loosened the buckles on his belt and coiled the belt around his fists. Brett cowered in the corner, with his arms around his head, flinching at the first whip on his legs.

Brett was 8 years old then.

Brett, now, is 30 years old and he has learnt the rules from his father. He knows how to tackle disobedience. Imitating his father’s actions, he loops the length of the belt around his hands, but this time it’s his wife and child at the receiving end. They quake in a corner, the same corner where Brett once, many years ago, acquired from his Pa, his lessons on “how to be a man”

Note: I’m not justifying domestic violence, because there is nothing that can justify it. But these people (both men and women can be victims of domestic violence) who raise their hands against their family have obviously learnt from somewhere that dominance is an appealing quality. And more often than not this violent psychology is a legacy that’s passed from one generation to next. Changes begin at home!

This post is written for WriteTribe Problogger October 2017 Challenge. The theme for today's post is disobedience.
#writebravely #writetribeproblogger

5 comments:

  1. Very well said Prasanna. Abuse and violence shouldn't passes on to next generations.

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  2. Trauma and violence tend to be intergenerational. I didn't think you were justifying it as this is what we see at work too --- it's what each generation learns is okay sadly and the roots of this evil lies in patriarchy. Well done with this story! :)

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  3. Parents are the ones responsible for instilling in a child the value of relationships and how to handle them. Often those that have a traumatic childhood tend to replicate their situation in adulthood thus passing on the baton of violence from generation to generation. Loved the way you've put it across in so small a story.

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  4. You have conveyed a large issue in a small story, Prasanna. Well done. It has a lot, in my opinion, to do with society and tradition. In a hierarchical society, there is an unwritten trend to attribute power to some, mostly the unfit ones. family is a microcosm of society, women and children are given as weak and they almost accept that.

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  5. Very well penned, and message give in such a short piece.

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