I was having a conversation with my mother the other day about being able to “have fun” and “live my life” (as I put it) and she said “Your life is just beginning. You still have time for all that”. I wonder if Scarlett’s mother ever told her that.
Freedom. How well I know that word. I’ve thrown it around during arguments more than once. Why can’t I stay out late? Why can’t I take an auto? How am I supposed to learn to be independent? Why are you trying to protect me all the time?
This is probably what I’m being protected from. No, I don’t just mean drugs, and alcohol and rape. I’m being protected from having to make a mature choice in a situation I’m probably not ready for. Funny, after what happened with Scarlett, I don’t seem to have any qualms in saying I’m probably still too young for a lot things.
But Scarlett was 15.
Fifteen.
And well.. I don’t think she realized that she could say “Maybe I’m too young for this”. And now she will never have the chance.
On a related note: I think this is very well written.
If we’re protected all the time it wont be easy to learn to protect ourselves!!! It’s true the choices left to her were too mature for her to handle, but if we aren’t given the chance to make decisions and chose for ourselves, we’ll grow up not knowing how or what to do when things go bad!! Our parents can only hold our hands to a point, after which we have to learn to pick ourselves up and dust our knees off and jump back in the race!!!
That someone murders a person – whether the person is free, spoilt, on drugs, crazy – is wrong! If we cannot focus on that and get it corrected do not expect to change the world with morality. By the way how come no one digs the life of the suspected murderer? Not fun, because he is a man? Or because he was not on drugs? Or probably he was not at fault since it was not he who caused the attraction? I would expect girls to be more sensitive to this?
Well, look at it from a parent’s perspective:
We don’t think of it as “being protective” – we think of it as giving our child a chance to grow up and learn how to handle life, by watching and learning from things around her that she is only just beginning to understand.
I guess we would rather be overprotective and ridiculed, than irresponsible and sorry.
Think of it this way – you are lucky you have a choice – Scarlett unfortunately did not have one. You think Scarlett’s life was fun? think again!!
Enjoy the luxury of having time to grow up while you can – it will soon vanish
I rarely agree with your father but on this I DO!
I loved the post. And I really could relate, all the times I banged my door because I wasnt allowed to go out or wasnt allowed to do certain things. I think our parents are capable to know when it is the right time to let go. Its not that we never have the chance to make our own decisions, we have an entire lifetime for that! And I know the moment we begin to start making those decisions, we wish we would be “protected” again. Its unfortunate what happened to Scarlett, I condemn it. She was a victim of unfortunate circumstances so to say, but we shouldnt forget that a part of the reason for her to be in those circumstances, did lie with her mother.