Catching fire

Jes 2 Comments

Some people are just so rigid and narrow minded.

My mum reminded me of this story she finds particularly amusing regarding my secondary school days.
(Source: Wikipedia)
I was a sporty and athletic child and love playing catching since young. Even during primary school days, I would head down to the playground most days with my cousins and play catching games like 'Police and thieves' and 'Iceman' together. 

There was a day after school when I stayed behind with my project mates who happened to be all guys, as decided by the teacher. A few of us and another group of guys suggested playing catching together. 4 of the classmates stayed behind to play Magic the gathering cards also decided to join us. Block catching in school sounds risky and fun and we started playing since there were no one else around.

After running around for  half an hour, we were shouted to get down and gather. What a surprise to see my Operations Manager (OM) waiting for us angrily when I got down!

He scanned the 12 of us.. 11 boys and 1 girl. He asked us why we are running around and none of us dared to answer. He asked us why we did not head home and we remained silent. He then directed his stares at me, a girl wearing skirt (but with shorts underneath) and exclaimed: Aren't you ashamed of being the only girl running around with other guys? I felt so indignant and felt like replying 'So What?'

But of course I did not. 

That was not the end of the humiliation game. He rudely proclaimed that he was lucky he did not have a daughter that behaved like me. Why such a personal derogatory remark?

I was running around in school, not on the streets, not being a hooker, not gambling, not drinking, not smoking, not experimenting with sex, not taking drugs. I was exercising for goodness sake! It's a purely healthy activity but why does he have to make me feel unworthy and trample all over me? If it's a guy playing catching, it's fine but not a girl. Never should a girl be running around and playing with guys.
Black sheep... figuratively and metaphorically (Source: Wikipedia)
We were to write our names down and if he ever saw us playing in the school again, he would call our parents. Immediately when I reached home, I poured out everything to my parents starting with a rhetorical 我很差meh? (Am I that bad?).

And they laughed.

They understood my character being so sporty that I have no awkwardness with guys since I have brothers and many male cousins. They understood that some girls are really petite, dainty and feminine so I should not take it to heart. I am not like that and should not be ashamed of it but the OM should not be so harsh with his words.

I know my parents have always been proud of me and never ashamed and that is all that matters. But every time I thought of this incident, I would like to track down my OM and tell him how I am today. Not to compare with his pretty, elegant daughter but to show him that playing catching does not make me astray and does not mean I am a bad student. I feel proud instead to be able to mingle and bond well with the opposite sex and have fun together.

Some people are just so rigid and narrow minded.

Jes

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2 comments:

  1. LOL!

    Jes,

    It's funny how some incidents will stick in our memory after so many years...

    The irony is that we remember, the other person has forgotten :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi SMOL,

    Spot on, man! Most people will forget what they did but our actions do leave behind an impression on others... So we have to be careful of what we say and do and make the right impact.... Thanks for the insightful comment :)

    ReplyDelete

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