This boy could have been an inventor, a singer, a writer, a creator or a wanderer. But his parents choose this path for him first. Here boys come in a new reality and world, where they are groomed and trained to become something that would keep the tradition alive.
Traditions passed on through generations, cultures kept since the beginning of their time and seeding the youth to a customised way of life. Where boys become men.
Many children around the world today are told what to do, what to be and how ‘society’ can help them have a better life. In many ways religion and cultures play an important role in creating them, institutionalising them.
So children grow up, learning and playing these roles, these characters, life goals imprinted by others, preaching their paths. In many instance this may be the only way for some children to have a better life, mainly in close knit communities, but it also questions the idea of allowing a child to understand their own path.
I grew up in a Sikh family, it was hard for me to understand the ideas, rules and values of being a Sikh. Seeing it as a customised way of living, a closed well-cared society, a one way street. To me life always seem to be in a different view, so I choose my own path by 16, being away from religion, ceremonies or strict cultures.
I then fell in and out of many different views, trying to relate, trying not to be in guilt or left out of the ‘group’. Growing up in these environments was really hard for someone like me. With whispers of conversations within my family, ‘the black sheep’ they called me.
Today I’m aware of who I am, religion doesn’t play a role in my life anymore, I choose to learn more about religions, cultures and spirituality, to understand, I choose to be close to my heritage. I love my Indian roots and different cultures I’ve inherited throughout my journey, my own understanding of what it is, as I choose not to allow another person tell me how I should live, what I should feel or how I can be in peace with myself.
I choose my own way of life. Knowing and not knowing too. Within something and nothingness. I am just me. So I let it be.
I do not feel there is a right or wrong way of seeing this, we practice life in ways we are thought. The self awareness of knowing and learning first, to give the option to explore more knowledge of the universe itself. All the realities and dimensions.
Not just one dimension of the story. Do we appoint ourselves to become preachers of life or allow our children the right to their own path or knowledge in life too?
