Freedom, What a Feeling!

I just completed The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad and I am feeling quite liberated. The book is non-fiction and tells the story of a family from Kabul in the industry of bookselling. The father, Sultan, is the patriarch and rules his house with an iron fist. He has two wives, numerous children and expects his sons to spend their lives working in his bookstores instead of getting an education.

The women in the story are as different from each other as can be. Sultan's mother, Baba Gul is in charge when he is away and she is content to sit in a corner and eat herself into oblivion. Sharifa, the first wife, honors Sultan by waiting on him hand and foot while Sonya, his young teenaged second wife is naive and needs to be taken care of.

It is Leila, Sultan's youngest sister, that I am rooting for throughout the book. She has a mind of her own although she is basically a servant in the household. She has a desire to learn, to see the world to fall in love yet society in her world prevents her from being the free spirit that she is. She must take along a young boy from the neighborhood to go out of the house. She must not be seen without her burka, in public with any non-related male and all the other rules that govern women in the Islamic tradition.

The whole time I was reading this book, I was thinking how lucky we are in America to have the freedom to walk out of our homes wearing whatever we want, go wherever we want, eat whatever we want, read whatever we want and the list goes on. We often think of what we can't do and get frustrated but in reality there really isn't much we can't do if we are willing to work for it. It is only up to us to choose the direction our life will take. This concept give me the knowledge that I am the creator of my life, with the guidance of a higher power, the universe will support me in my quest to fulfill my personal legend.....

Just started "In the Country of Men" by Hisham Matar so far so good.....
Currently reading : In the Country of Men By Hisham Matar