Monday, September 17, 2012

There are no answers



“Can I speak to Vishal*”, my son asked me. “He hasn’t been coming to school for two weeks, and I want to tell him what we are doing in class.”
His mother didn’t pick the phone up, so I texted asking when we could call.
“Vishal’s fasting”, his mother texted back, “he’s very weak, and can’t speak.”
The kid is going to have nothing but water for 40 days.

Can a nine year old take a decision of that magnitude? Do his parents have the right to force something so dangerous on such a young child? There are no answers.


____
* name changed

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Natasha - Oh, that is a difficult question!! The choice to fast is a difficult one and yes it is dangerous. I'm not sure a nine-year-old is capable of taking the decision to something like this. And for 40 days? It's hard to know what to do.

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