If you want to understand how to become better allies to people with disabilities, then join us at Embracing All Abilities: Including People with Disabilities at Work.
We call men who refuse to commit "jerks". But, do we show ourselves the mirror? Thoughts on love and commitment after the season finale of How I Met Your Mother.
We call men who refuse to commit “jerks”. But, do we show ourselves the mirror? Reflections on love and commitment after watching the season finale of How I Met Your Mother.
(Updated: This post contains some spoilers, for those of you who haven’t watched the finale)
On certain days, all we need is a bag of chips or a bowl of popcorn and back to back episodes of our favorite sitcom. We all have days when the last thing we want is to get all dressed up and head for an evening out on the town. When the only thing that makes us happy is the lives of those on screen and watching their drama unfold.
I certainly have my collection of a few with ‘Will & Grace’ topping the list. Never a dull moment in the show and laughs galore. More recently fans of ‘How I Met Your Mother’ were all eagerly tuned in to watch the season finale, a season which centered on Robin and Barney’s wedding. Now I got hooked on this show about 2 years ago. Friends coaxed me into watching it and over a week’s illness when I was on bed rest, bored and with nothing to do, season 1 of the show was initiated.
I soon came to fall in love with the characters, their unique personas, their quirks and follies. We were all welcomed into McLaren’s Pub and were usually hanging out there post a busy day at work, perhaps late into the night.
For me, the love and friendship that Lily and Marshall share is what a marriage should be based on. Barney, despite all his shenanigans with the opposite sex falls in love with Robin and towards the close of the season, they get married. And of course the ever lovable Ted Mosby who has more emotional tolerance than most men and has survived heartbreak after heartbreak.
What I loved about the season finale was the fact that Ted finally met the woman who loved him the way he had always wanted to be loved. A love so pure and unconditional that he knew his heart was full, the moment he laid eyes upon her. What was shocking and disappointing to me was that the wife eventually fell sick and died. And he finally reunited with Robin, who had divorced Barney after three years of marriage.
I am all for second chances and new beginnings, but the fly in the ointment is that at the end of all those years of pain, disappointment and hurt, he still went back to Robin. Now here’s a woman who is more aloof and distant than most. She refused to allow his love into her life when he was pursuing her. When she eventually gave in, it fizzled out soon. She went on to fall for Barney, leaving Ted to pick up the pieces of his broken heart. As Barney and Robin ended up together, her confused state of being made reappearance and gave way to the panic that set in before she walked down the aisle to eventually calling it quits with Barney and wishing she had ended up with Ted.
Yes, I know the tears of joy many may have shed upon seeing Ted and Robin back together, but that was an ending I truly hated. Apparently the show should have just been called ‘How I Met your Stepmother’. Here’s a woman who refused to be with a man who genuinely cared for her. To breaking his heart and moving on to sleeping with his best friend – she pretty much inflicted the worst upon him.
Post her divorce, when she sees Ted with his fiancé, her feelings for him, which were long since dead and buried, resurface. So what was the moral of the story?
That no matter how unconditionally a woman may love a man, all the happiness she brings to his life and the beautiful children they share, death would ultimately intervene and end a love story that was true and real and meant to have them grow old together. Whereas a woman who every step of the way thought only of herself to the point of having a disregard for those in her life, got whomever she wanted, whenever she did without so much as a care to the those who were hurting in the process of her making such decisions.
This attitude even filtered towards her friends. Despite all the love and support given to her over the years, she found it difficult to be there for them in their big moments. Apparently she found it too hard to reciprocate their friendship. Indeed! As she wasn’t getting exactly what she wanted at that particular time.
There are women who may be lucky enough to have someone in their lives but refuse to respect and acknowledge the same till it suits their convenience or fits into their ‘plan’. Why must we keep one hanging in order to boost our egos? Or is it the fact that we are scared of being alone and are willing to keep one around merely as a fall back or rather a back-up in case we see ourselves steering toward loneliness?
What gives us the right to treat a man that way? It is easy enough for us to call them cold, mean, unresponsive or just plain jerks when they behave this way. But we refuse to see ourselves clearly when we mirror such behavior and instead have hours of explanation ready, even when we are in the wrong.
If we wish for others to treat us in a manner that is open and honest, we must first be honest with ourselves and think even more consciously of our wants and desires, when it involves another human being. Perhaps then it wouldn’t take us years to allow love into our lives.
Soul centric and free spirited all the while living life through travel and adrenaline junkie activities. Counselling Psychologist and Educator by vocation. And a life and laughter enthusiast by heart. Usually found daydreaming about her read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
What I loved was how there is so much in the movie of the SRK we have known, and also a totally new star. The gestures, the smile, the wit and the charisma are all too familiar, but you also witness a rawness, an edginess.
When a movie that got the entire nation in a twist – for the right and wrong reasons – hits the theatres, there is bound to be noise. From ‘I am going to watch it – first day first show’ to ‘Boycott the movie and make it a flop’, social media has been a furore of posts.
Let me get one thing straight here – I did not watch Pathaan to make a statement or to simply rebel as people would put it. I went to watch it for the sheer pleasure of witnessing my favourite superstar in all his glory being what he is best at being – his magnificent self. Because when it comes to screen presence, he burns it, melts it and then resurrects it as well like no other. Because when it comes to style and passion, he owns it like a boss. Because SRK is, in a way, my last connecting point to the girl that I once was. Though I have evolved into so many more things over the years, I don’t think I am ready to let go of that girl fully yet.
There is no elephant in the room really here because it’s a fact that Bollywood has a lot of cleaning up to do. Calling out on all the problematic aspects of the industry is important and in doing that, maintaining objectivity is also equally imperative. I went for Pathaan for entertainment and got more than I had hoped for. It is a clever, slick, witty, brilliantly packaged action movie that delivers what it promises to. Logic definitely goes flying out of the window at times and some scenes will make you go ‘kuch bhi’ , but the screenplay clearly reminds you that you knew all along what you were in for. The action sequences are lavish and someone like me who is not exactly a fan of this genre was also mind blown.
Recent footage of her coming out of an airport had comments preaching karma and its cruel ways, that Samantha "deserved her illness" because she filed for divorce.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu fell from being the public’s sweetheart to a villain overnight because she filed for divorce. The actress was struck with myositis post divorce, much to the joy of certain groups (read sexist) in our society.
A troll responded to Samantha’s tweet, “Women Rising!!” by adding to it “just to fall”. She replied, “Getting back up makes it all the more sweeter, my friend.”
Here’s another insensitive tweet by BuzZ Basket showing fake concern for her autoimmune disease. “Feeling sad for Samantha, she lost all her charm and glow. When everyone thought she came out of divorce strongly and her professional life was seeing heights, myositis hit her badly, making her weak again.” Samantha responded, “I pray you never have to go through months of treatment and medication like I did. And here’s some love from me to add to your glow.”
Please enter your email address