Rocks and Flowers

“When you are in public, please wear decent clothes that cover your body well to prevent this from happening to you”, strongly advised a person in a position of authority in a school assembly a few years ago following the sexual assault of a teenage girl. I was shocked and very much outraged. Perhaps my reaction was exaggerated and perhaps it still is, but I could not ignore the ridiculous message hidden behind those words. A certain message that seems to have been so well imbibed by the majority of us. The universal understanding being, cue the drumroll, we are partly to be blamed if we have been sexually assaulted. Now let me present you with a different scenario, yeah? Let’s say you are casually walking down the street and some random person just stabs you with a knife. Who is to be blamed? Would you say that you are to be held liable for not having worn a full body armour or would you rather agree that it’s the person who stabbed you who should be taking the whole bl...

Short story. Recently I was involved in a Clean Up Campaign on the campus of my university. I began the day with much enthusiasm and positivity because I felt like I was contributing to a great cause. However, the end of the day was a complete contrast. I was left disgusted, indignant, physically and emotionally drained and most importantly, utterly disappointed. The place we were cleaning could have been captivating with all of its huge trees and greenery if not for all of the wastes scattered everywhere with every single step you take. We collected the most we could in the little time frame we had. We picked up and saw hundreds of empty plastic bottles, empty cans of beer, empty glass bottles of alcohol, bottles containing piss, plastic wrappers, cigarette boxes, used condoms, unused condoms, used syringes, unused needles and well, the list is quite long. Carelessly throwing away litter anywhere except in bins is something I have observed from across all the generations....