A collection of short stories

2. Conformist Codes of Society

Friday,5th October
             It was 7:30 am and I was getting ready for school. I was in a hurry and as always there were very loud noises coming from my neighbour's house. I get irritated everyday because of their nuisance and at the same time feel sorrowful for my friend Varun. He is a patient of depression since three years. His parents always yelled on him for his  condition. They believed that boys are not weak and they thought they are just wasting their money on his treatment. I was waiting for my school bus at the bus stop. We have the annual day the next day. My teacher had told me,"Aryan like every year this year also you have to give a speech on some unique topic." Like every I was assigned to do this work. This time I had decided to give a speech on a very different topic which I had not even revealed to my teacher.
Saturday,6th October
                It was 11 am and the annual day started. It begin with the principal's speech. After that there was a prayer dance. Now it was my chance to deliver a speech. I started with my speech:-
Good morning one and all. Today I am going to talk about a very different and unusual topic. It is about some traditional codes or beliefs which society dictates and we are bound to follow that. I still remember this incident when I was 8 years old. I was riding a bicycle and suddenly fell down. I started sobbing. My mom saw that and she came running towards me. I still remember what my mom had said that time. She said,"boys are not weak. They don't cry." I am pretty sure many boys and men have heard this from some or the other person. I just want to say a couple of things on this. First of all crying does not make any human weak be it of any gender. Secondly,boys are also humans and not a body made up of stone. They also have heart in their ribcage and not pebbles. It is not compulsory that pink is for girls and blue is for boys. So we all should change our thinking and I hope my speech makes some difference. Thankyou.
                I received a standing ovation and a big round of applause after my speech. I really hoped that there is change in society and people's way of thinking.