If Not Mine, Not Anyone's

The recent news of a female associate pastor being shot dead by a man whose marriage proposal she rejected shocked me. I didn't grow up in Nagaland hearing such crime patrol wali type of news. What was more surprising was, none of the top read newspapers' op-ed columns of the state came up with a full-length piece expressing dismay over this news. This is not a banal topic, you see.  The matter should concern us, if you agree with me.

While I don't know the whole story but on the surface of it, it looks like the wrath of a man who could not take "no!" for an answer. There are numerous newspaper and academic articles and papers written on why man cannot handle rejection and the cycle of frustrated lovers turned killers. Various psychologists, sociologists and feminist thinkers have made an attempt to understand the root cause behind such behaviour. Some find the connection to the individual's interpretation of 'rejection'. Some highlights the way boys were brought up in a patriarchal society where they are 'conditioned to think, the best belongs to them and the best is reserved for them in life, especially from a woman.' With such privileged feeling when they pursue a woman later in life, they are subjected to think, a woman cannot turn them down or be indifferent to them. If the result turns out to be ugly then things take a turn for the worst and people witness (see/hear/ read) events like the above stated incident. 

However, there are numerous men whose proposals have been turned down and they don't seem to have gone into the killer mode, at the maximum level, they might have spread rumours of the girls, if only they have the time and the evil creative energy. Which makes me think, there should be enough debates and discussions about this issue. Hence, in my limited capacity, I am writing this post. I hope incidents of such kind doesn't happen again in our land, at least not in our lim. 

Indeed, rejection is a painful event, some need therapy to get out of this trauma and some who cannot indulge in this costly session take comfort in confining their heartache to their friends and family members. Life is beautiful, although, it can't be pink always, there will be shades of blue, black and white. In my case, colourblind.