Do not scorn a weak cub. He may become the brutal tiger (Mongolian proverb).

Watched a fabulous film yesterday. Had been meaning to watch it for a while, but, as always, there just haven't been enough hours in the day. But two of the three kiddies went to grandma's place over the weekend so it wasn't quite the nuthouse it usually is around here. So last night I finally found a couple of hours to sit down, put my feet up, get knitting in hand and watch "Mongol".

Having grown up in Australia, I didn't study history that much. My ten year old son knows more history than I do. The only history I ever learnt about was through books I had chosen to read as opposed to being forced and at Uni as part of my music degree. Other than that, I learnt in primary school that Australia has existed since 1788 (???) and that it became a federation in 1901. Beyond that...nada!

So all I knew of Genghis Khan before I watched the movie, considering he wasn't a significant figure to the flourishing of music or a character in a Jane Austen or Bronte novel, was that he took over half the globe and was reverred for his warriorship, reviled for his tyranny. As such, the film was quite an eye opener in terms of the "man behind the myth". Because just like the rest of us, whether we're tyrants or matyrs, he too was a man of flesh and blood.

This may sound quite odd, but the thing that struck me most watching the film was that I felt that his life held a number of parallels with mine. No, I have no desire for world domination, far from it. A somewhat okay career singing in a couple of clubs or at a wedding or funeral or two, that's as far as my professional plans go. Rather, first of all, he too lost his father at quite a young age. His was poisoned when he was 9 (how poetic!), while I lost mine somewhat later at the age of 13 to cancer. And of course, just as it did him, it affected me terribly. I didn't want to avenge anyone for it, had no reason to. I just went a bit nutty and I am grateful everyday of my life for God and my mum for getting me through the ordeal as wound-free as possible.

But the parallel that I found most with Genghis Khan was the fact that he was bullied as a kid. Now, I don't know how many of you were bullied as kids but I can tell ya, up until Year 5, I was the most bullied kid in the class. There are a number of reasons behind this. First of all, I was a bit on the plump side and this was the foremost source of inspiration for being the butt of most of the class' jokes and pranks. One episode that comes to mind was being pushed off my chair in Year 4 by Shane Lodge (yes, you always remember your bully's name), being called a spastic and the teacher saying that I had brought it all on myself.

The second reason was because I had more consonants in my surname than vowels. In other words, I was a wog, as the Aussies colloquially call us immigrants. I was always Mary ummmmm. I don't want to even mention the names they concocted out of my surname. No one besides people of Croatian descent could ever pronounce my surname. In fact, many people that know me don't even know that my first name isn't really Mary: I was actually christened Marija. But my dad spared me at least a bit of ridicule by changing my name to Mary. Thanks Dad!

But the third, and in hindsight, primary reason that I was harrassed as a kid was the fact that I was a chick. Most of the bullying was done by the guys in the class, not the chicks. It seems to me that there are some men in the world that feel that just because we don't have a spare appendage, they can do what they will with us. But see, they forget one thing. They forget the power, strength and fortitude that we chicks posess - my mum always says that the human race would become extinct if men had to have babies. To be honest, I think these kind of men do realise just how much strength we have and feel more than a little threatened by it. Hence, the brutish behaviour. They feel that in being beastly to us they can tame our unbridled power, they can break us like a wild horse, put us in our place. Unfortunately for those men, many of us chicks invariably find even more strength in their denigrating us and attempts at breaking us. Look at Medusa. That Poseidon fella obviously thought that by violating her he would put her in her place. Unfortunately not. Or Mata Hari. Her first alcoholic husband beat her to a pulp and had a couple of chicks on the side but that only put the wind in her sails.

And that made me think about the ultimate chick, the head honcho, the capo di tutti capi - Mother Nature. How many men, both past and present, have violated, reviled, pillaged, scorned and bullied her? How many were threatened by her beauty, fortitude, strength and benevolence and as such, behaved brutishly towards her? Well, it seems to me that it's payback time. Just as the formerly beautiful Medusa transformed her locks to serpents after having being raped by Poseidon, so too will Mother Nature unleash her terror after having been raped time and time again by too many men to name. God only knows what serpents she will send forth to us all...

So yes, do not scorn a weak cub. He may become the brutal tiger...or tigress...