I have always believed that parents are superheroes, and if I thought oppositely I be will accused of disbelieving. So in a way, parents are Gods. Warsan Shire said: “you have to understand that no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land.” This stanza can hold many interpretations, and one of these interpretations will seize me in the cage of disbelieving, since everyone would read this and think of parents as angels. What if they are not, and what if they are really drowning their children?
I will not immediately be accused of disbelieving, because I will characterize them as “Our Superheroes”. This noun phrase seems to work for an animation or a TV show, but not real life. Our Superheroes, they are flawless, working the day long to wipe the devils from our lives. But after all, superheroes aren’t humans but my parents are, so they are defeatable. In a nut shell, the first interpretation seems not to work, but still, every child in a stage of his/her life believed that their parents are superheroes, and I’m still believing so, although I am no more a child, or do I prefer to believe so?
Once it appeared to my parent that throwing me on the sidewalk is “water”, but the “land” is being hit by a car though I had many fractions from this accident, but at this very moment my parent sacrificed himself being hit by the car and not being sure whether that reaction would hurt me or not. My father played it safe, in both ways, whether being in “water” or on “land” would hurt me, but being in “water” will reduce the risk of me being a dead person.
A parent is never a parent only by having sex, and then a child of them appears to life, it is much more. A parent is something deserved not given, otherwise, they are guardians not parents. Hence, this is the compulsory application of parenthood. And one of a parent’s duty is not to throw their child in “water” unless this “water” is harder than the “land”. However, before thinking of throwing a child in “water”, what if before exercising life, a parent thinks whether he/she can insure a decent life for their child where “lands” are safer than “water”, a life where a child never feels less than his peers, a life where a child can feel secure with his/her parents and never have a chance to be thrown in “water”.
“No one (a parent) puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land”, or a hero does? This statement made me think of the shelters that exist extensively in this world, of how many child was left by his/her so-called parents or one of them, etc… These parents preferred to keep their children on “lands” where they have the choice to throw them in “water”, in this case “water” is much more merciful, and it is the way to remember that once my parent throw me in “water” and be proud of it. Moreover, I assert that there is no human being –in this situation- prefers breathing air rather than drowning.
Also, I am of two minds about what are the meanings of “water” and “land” to parents, and are they always aware of distinguishing between them? A parent may think of “land” as “water”, and vice versa, it all depends on the parents’ conception -or misconception- of security and safety. Parents are not Gods, so their decisions may not always be right, although they believe that they are doing their best to their children and they provide protection to them even if the opposite happened.