Change

By: Kali Lamparelli
Posted In: Opinion

He has gorgeous blue eyes, looks strong, is kind and his mother taught him to hold the doors for women. I am his; I belong to him. I am bound to him by society’s rules, by his family, by my family. I have chained myself to a fear that I won’t survive without this man, any man. Taught as a woman by women that this is life-how life should be. Today, men can become women as women can become men. The chaos of choice becomes an unbearable burden. Why can’t a woman in 2007 be free of these chains society has bound her to? Why do I have to learn to cook and love it? Why must I bear children only to selflessly carry them for the rest of my life? Do I have to marry at all? Who told me, who taught me that this is the way the world has to be? Am I afraid, are we afraid of what other’s will think if we finally break free of these chains and scream this is how I feel, this is what I want!

Change.

Change by giving myself a voice. For years I have laid down, fallen, been convinced that the woman I am is wrong. I have been convinced that I am not allowed to feel. I am 21 on this day and I have discovered my hands, my hair, myself. I can feel the dirt under my nails and know I can climb the tallest tree for I am no longer bound in the chain of society, I can breathe.