For coloured (and other) girlz . . .

Last Friday, my BFFs and I decided to see the movie every woman has been talking about, Tyler Perry's "For Colored Girls". The movie was creating quite the buzz and everyone had just one thing to say, "Prepare to bawl". 

The movie, as expected, was a hard watch. There were experiences that the women went through, that were a little too close to home for easy viewing. Around me, I heard women, including one of my friends, sniffling at various points in the movie. I kept waiting on my own tears to start - but it wasn't happening. And then came THAT scene!

* * * * SPOILER ALERT * * * * For those of you who haven't yet seen the movie (and plan to) it is advisable that you stop reading now.

THAT scene was the one where the mother of two young children watched (helplessly) as her emotionally damaged boyfriend literally dropped them out the 5th floor window of their apartment building. Oh man! Watching that scene was like getting a solid punch to the stomach. I couldn't breathe!! It didn't help that, from the very start of the movie, I had noted the resemblance of the younger child to my own 4 year old. For a split second, while watching that scene, I had a hard time separating the two in my mind.

Then, thank God, came intermission.

Around me, the sniffling heard earlier had now progressed to soft sobbing. I looked around with some degree of disbelief. Crying? CRYING!! Hell no! I was mad as hell!! The children's mother in this movie had every indication that their father was a ticking time bomb. While in the movie, and in real life, it's difficult to find alternate arrangements when you're a working mother, isn't there a point where the safety of our kids takes precedence? No matter the difficulties involved?

I spent the rest of the movie, barely containing my bubbling anger. And there were so many things to be angry about:-

• the silly young girl who gets pregnant because she didn't have the sense to use a rubber (sweetie, haven't you heard of HIV/AIDS? Pregnancy is almost the lesser of two evils here);
• the mature woman who allows the "wuckless" man to take advantage of her (are we really that afraid of being alone?);
• the rapist who practiced the 4 F's (it was so textbook, everyone was already seeing what was inevitably going to happen);
• the career woman who was so wrapped up in her money and position that she emasculated her husband in more ways than one (oooh - that one was REALLY hard to watch).

I was angry at ALL of them and visions of pick-axe sticks being wielded on someone's (OK - some man's) head kept swirling through my head.

Later, while recounting that part of the movie to my husband and venting about how angry it made me, he, with some degree of irritation, asked why was I was so upset.  After all, it was just a movie! Then I saw this TIME.com headline - Police: Dad Killed Woman, 2 Girls, Self. You see - it's not just a movie. It's every day life. I know that women, for various reasons, put up with abuse. But, my belief is that when children are involved, you do all that's required to keep them safe. That, at minimum, is our commitment to our children.

I know that I'm blessed that my children are safe, cherished and not in danger at home. I am thankful to God for that. But my anger burns for those women who can't, or won't, guarantee their children the same things. Rather than spending the time crying (the mother in the movie was in almost constant tears after losing her kids), let's have enough anger burn in us to ensure that no other child ends up paying the ultimate price because of us - coloured girlz or otherwise.

Oh, and by the way, if I had been the woman in THAT scene, believe me, the next person going through that window would have been the man. No court would ever convict me!