Life Isn't Fair

My father used to tell me that all the time when I would rail about the injustices of the world, and he was right. It isn't fair. But you make the best of it.

Unless, of course, you are a little kid in which case adults make all the rules and you don't get a say in it. Take the case of the little girl in Nepal who had just been named the new "kumari" or living goddess to be worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists as the incarnation of the Hindu deity Taleju. Sounds pretty good, right? Especially since she was chosen from an impoverished caste (if you ever doubt that life is unfair, just look at the caste system sometime!). She will now live in a palatial temple swathed in red silk and have devotees bow their heads to her feet. Sounds good, right?

Well, to find this goddess they interview these 2- to 4-year old girls by looking at their horoscopes and then making sure she has perfect hair, eyes, teeth and skin, and then making sure she isn't afraid of the dark. How do they do that? By making her spend a night alone in a room full of ritually slaughtered goat and buffalo heads without showing fear. Yeah, that sounds like fun for a three year old.

After she is chosen she gets to be taken from her parents and live in almost complete isolation (except for holy days when she gets the feet bowing thing) until she reaches puberty when she is no longer holy any more and some new little kid takes her place. Yeah, silk ribbons until you get your period then they toss you out like yesterday's newspaper. Oh, and there is this rumor that men who marry former kumaris die young so no one wants to marry you. Which is okay because living in isolation since you were three probably doesn't give you much in the way of social skills.

Look, I'm not going to judge any one's religious practices but you really need to ask yourself if it's the practice is truly necessary. Do they really need to do that to little girls? It would be one thing if she were an adult and could make that decision on on her own but she isn't. Hey, we would all be upset if there was a religion still practicing virgin sacrifice, wouldn't we? And isn't that what this is in essence? You use her innocence and then when she isn't 'innocent' any more you send her out into a world that she isn't prepared for nor will truly accept her back. Ick. The things that are done in the name of religion never cease to amaze me. And not to go into a feminist diatribe here but doesn't it seem that in most religions, women get the short end of the stick?

So life isn't fair. But I guess it could always be worse.