Strength of a Woman

After months of being told by various people that I MUST go see MTC's Ruined, and after months of trying to get tickets but to no avail, a friend surprised me with tickets to go see the show. And like everything else that's made much of for a long time, I walked in expecting to be blown away. I was, but not by the production itself. I'm not sure if it was just an off night for the performers or if it was the play itself but it just didn't seem to be all that - I am very aware that a lot of you will disagree with me.

I had a vague idea of what it was about, and had deliberately not read any reviews. I wanted to go in with a blank slate. The more I think of it, the more I feel it was the writing that put me off in parts. Don't get me wrong, I was very much engaged through the play and cried a lot, but there were parts that just took me away from it because of the words used.

But more importantly, it was the stories of those women that completely broke my heart. Their undying spirit, their will to survive with a smile, to find humanness in their existence and be grateful for it. It was painful, inspiring, horrific and shook me to my bones. My personal experiences taught me at a very young age that a woman's capacity to endure can be compared to a bottomless pit. Since then, the women who have come into my life and the women whose stories I have had the opportunity to know have only affirmed that statement.

And yet, it is so enraging to see how easily a human being is stripped of dignity, basic human rights and completely taken for granted. Here's the big question - What am I going to do about it?

-- Farah Bala