Her Pandora’s Box

Dear sugarplum fairy,

With much relish, Selamat Hari Raya beautiful readers.

Dear sugarplum fairy,

My mother has always told me that a home ‘is the safest place in the world. The world beyond your home is a cold and dark one.’ Eventhough many of us live in houses, there are also many amongst us who live in dangerous ones. Some instances include spouse abuse, child abuse, family prostitution and many others. In general, domestic violence.

This is a campaign by The Body Shop, to stop violence in homes.

Why The Body Shop did it? (taken from web):

Domestic violence happens everywhere. At least 1 in 3 women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Usually, the abuser is a member of her own family or someone known to her.

Stop Violence in the Home is The Body Shop International’s campaign guiding and supporting customers and employees to get active against domestic violence. We want to tell the world about this human rights scandal and work with governments to take action.

Other ways you can help

• Plant a daisy on the website to voice and show you support to end violence in homes.
• Join the forum! Vocalize your thoughts and ideas and contribute to the campaign.
• Download a wallpaper and/or screen saver. You can also choose an icon, upload onto your website and link it to stopdomesticviolencenow.com.

Visit the website to learn more about the campaign.

Everybody, the littlest efforts can morph into a powerful world-changing movement with enough voices. Lets be individuals who insists human rights.

Afterall, we are all one.

Dear sugarplum fairy,

Yasin phoned my office on a dramatically bad day and said,

"Hello, i’d like to make an enquiry. Why are you so beautiful?"

I went jelly.

It is yet another Sunday.

And i remembered one Sunday- Yas and i were out and about on our regular coffee date and i was very unhappy. Being the great person that he naturally is, he coaxes me and listens to me. And unlike most men that this heart’s reached out to, Yas handles me like a pro and beyond. There is no ego in his tone, there is no pretending in his opinions and there is just all of himself, who wants to make me feel better. The humble, kind and selfless Yasin.

And most men, would take that oppurtunity to attempt a heroic stunt by bragging about their ideologies and principles that they’ve hardly sustained and preach like a whining radio for hours. They believe that they want the best for me, they think they are giving me advices and that they are nurturing me. But they contradict themselves, all the time. While i sit back and watch and chuckle deep down inside at what fools they’ve made themselves look like. And i feel awfully apologetic for their absurd mentality.

When Yas would easily say "Maria is capable of taking care of herself". And you know he’s right. He knows me best and chooses to love and embrace all of me.

And with luck, i live in the city of love that he has built to protect and care for me.

At any point, I am not half as great a lover as he is. And when i look back at everything that i’ve done wrong to him, i am trampled with great shame and anger. Then i fight to make it right.

So today, i want to tell the world that i’ve met the most beautiful man and i’m sticking around to bear and raise his kids someday. I’m excited!

Sigh.. Its just wonderful to be in love.