In response to my 2-part poem “Devil #3”, (If you haven’t seen my poem about being abducted, you can read it HERE and HERE,) I received a comment from Joe at http://whatigottasayaboutit.com/

“This post angers me. It sickens me to think about how barbaric men can be. I’m also saddened that this sort of thing continues to go on every day. I read the comments from your readers and my heart sank. Then I got to thinking of all the men who might have suffered similar experiences. Women are not the only ones who are affected by the patriarchy that is world wide. If you ask me, patriarchy is the biggest problem the world has to face. I’m happy you escaped unharmed, both in this story and in your Naive in Africa story. However, I wish you never had to experience this in the first place. Thanks for sharing this Judy. I think I’ll re-blog this.”

This is my reply to him:

Thanks, Joe.  In my life, I’ve known more supportive, gentle men than the self-centered horrors depicted in these few writings, and I know that in addition to the fact that men, too, have been abducted, tortured and killed, that in being expected to go to war,  men (and now women) have traditionally faced horrors of being forced to kill or be killed as well.

I am thankful every day not to have been born into a culture where women are traditionally at the mercy of whatever men dictate.  If you haven’t seen the film “The Patience Stone,” I highly recommend it.  The subtitles are horrible but the message gets across visually.  An incredible film. “Change doesn’t come through guns-it comes through culture, and women change the culture,” says Atiq Rahimi, director and co-writer of “The Patience Stone.”

Now I would like to share that recommendation with all of you and to hear what you think of the film.  It is set in Afghanistan and I don’t know who did the subtitles.  Here is the further comment I sent to Joe regarding subtitles:

Joe, I think I’m going to post your letter and my reply to you. I would love to have more people see “The Patience Stone” and then to hear their discussion of the film. If you can get beyond the horrible subtitles–-and in places I was grateful for the humor they infused which appropriate or not, helped to lighten things up a bit-–this is one of the best films I’ve ever seen in terms of getting a point across that you had to dig for a bit.

See a trailer for “The Patience Stone” HERE.

See the entire movie online HERE.