"Cultural Zeitgeist" I am amused and depressed at the same time when I think about the foolishness of thought in our society; Where achievements are equated to the amount written on the pay checks of individuals, where television advertisements dictate what useless crap we buy next, and where the width of the television screen placed in our living rooms decides our social status. I am equally astonished when I think about how society fiddles with a woman's brain from such an early age, so much so that women start to take pride in flaunting the fact that they are totally out of touch with their sexuality and find honor in being deprived of sexual liberation. I feel shocked when I see how gender specific roles are assigned to every human and how every one has imbibed these ridiculous and disrespectful gimmicks as social norms and moral values. How a man who cooks well is considered useless while every woman's worth is based on her cutlery skills. I find it appalling when I see parents asking their daughters to behave 'like a lady', and worst yet, when girl friends and wives who themselves been victims of this, taunt their boy friends' or husbands' with lines like, "Stop acting like a girl" and phrases like "Stop being a girl and man up" How does one man up? By being the bread winner and bossing around women and children? And how does one stop being a girl? I don't have the answer. It is highly displeasing how we have accepted social stupidities for moral norms and the way everyone is okay with this lack of disparity in thought. It makes me sick, when I think about it. It is totally out of my understanding how people can't see it. It might be a comfort zone that we have created for ourselves, but we will be parents one day and then—what will we teach our children? What will we teach our sons? That it is not okay if they want to grow up and be a stay at home dad and take care of their family? That making dinner for their wife and kids, and cleaning the house makes them lesser of men? And what will we teach our daughters? That their self-worth is determined by the number of boys that want to be with them or the number of dishes they know to prepare in the kitchen? What are we going to teach them, when we ourselves are living in proud ignorance, with such a flawed mentality? —Akif Kichloo, Cultural Zeitgeist. DO SHARE THIS, IF YOU AGREE !