therapy

» personalities

I pulled up onto the driveway in front of her house and honked to signal my arrival. In just two weeks, we would finish school and finally take a breath that we've been holding in for a year. Time rolled around and jumped across my windshield as I still saw no sign of her. Getting frustrated, I called her and got no answer.

"Where is she?" I sighed and pondered if I should walk up to the door when I saw her frantically run out, looking like an absolute mess. She opened the car door and sat down in an exhausted manner. "What happened to you?"

"I was up all night trying to convince someone to not date another person so I didn't have time to choose my outfit or look presentable."

"You were..you were trying to convince someone to not date someone? Am I hearing that right?" I started up the car and made a turn to get onto the road.

"Yes. Remember the girl that I walk with to math class?"

"Oh yeah, what about her?"

"Well, she wants to ask this guy out. I see him in my science class which is about two hours before math. Anyway, he is honestly one of the most racist, judgmental, and sexist human beings to walk on this planet. Well, I'm sure there are worse people out there but in this day and age, he is definitely up there."

"Then..why would she want to date him?"

"Because, according to her, he is extremely physically attractive and thus that should overpower how his behavior is."

"That's messed up... Sometimes, I really question our entire society. We've been drilled from the beginning of our school days. If someone is attractive, they can get away with absolutely anything. This is predominantly seen in our crimes, where a person who has lighter skin will plead with a mental illness and thus their actions are not charged. But if someone who does the exact same crime, with darker skin, is automatically executed. There is a racial distinction of beauty and consequences which should not exist at all!" My anger rose.

"Exactly, friend, exactly. What I've been telling her is that he is someone who believes in the domesticated woman: one who cleans, cooks, and watches the kids every day, all day. I asked him if he would help out at home and he said he wouldn't need to. I asked him if he would be part of his children's lives and he said during the weekends. During the weekends. Why would I let a friend of mine lose all of her hopes and dreams, get a degree in a college that is not free, and only be constricted in four walls? It disgusts me that we, as a nation, should be past such gender confinement but it seems hopeless."

"And it isn't like you can let her experience the domestication for her to 'learn her lesson'..no one should be treated as if they are merely an object." I stopped at a red light.

"I hope she realizes that a person's personality doesn't change but their looks do. Once she is a grown woman and sends her kids to college, she's going to not see the same man she saw in high school, but she is still going to see the traces of racism, judgments, and sexism fragmented in their lives. Yes, a person can overcome their prejudice but I know he has no intention of changing his words and actions."

"Well, we're here." I parked the car and we both noticed the girl walk up to the boy, whose staggering walk tranced her.

"Did she even listen to me?" Her voice was quiet as she paused from unbuckling her seat belt.

The boy turned around and gave the girl a simple smirking nod. Instead of the girl smiling back at him, she quickly moved to the other side of the building and went to her classes.

"I guess she did." I smiled at her.