SOS

Empathy. A concept that is easy to say but not all of us share the same belief. Even the holiest of us don’t really want to help others if it jeopardized the very well-protected circle that we live in. Why would we go to all the troubles to help others if nobody wanted to help us in return? Why would we want to go out of our way to help fellow human beings with no guarantee that others would do the same to us?

Yeah, bitchy ain’t it? When you can’t say NO to people but people keep saying NO to you. When people look for you when they’re in trouble but when the table turns, you are left alone without nowhere to hold on to and nobody to confide in.

A classic example would be in school. When there are events to be carried out and you are one of the so-called big boss and have to delegate the tasks to others.  But when you ask them for help, they come up with excuses after excuses. Sure you’re not friends with them, but they are your colleagues and shouldn’t colleagues help each other when they are in need? But noooo, they will work as hard as they can to ease themselves of all the responsibilities for an event that only took place within a day but have endless consequences in the long run if you keep seeing the same colleague at work.

So, to avoid awkward situations like these, sometimes you just say YES to everything, although it meant jeopardizing your health and not being able to come to school the next day. However, one can only keep quiet and take all the bullshit for so long. Sooner or later, one must break free from the chain of inequality and fight for one’s right.

Sometimes, the delegation of tasks is based on gender. Taking the example from my experience and that of my friends, most form teachers are ladies. What happen to the men? Aren’t they capable to manage a class and perform duties of a form teacher? Like marking students’ attendance and closing the register every month? Why do the ladies have to do it?

Such is the sexist atmosphere at work. If you think the world is totally free from gender discrimination, think again. For you might be very disappointed and shocked when you are faced with so-called reality. Or if by saying NO, you’ll make a couple of enemies in the process then so be it.