My Thoughts on This Photo.

This photo has been floating around for a while now. The photo features the wife of the Akwa Ibom state speaker kneeling down to thank her husband during her PhD ceremony. A lot of people have had loads of things to say about it. Some condemning her actions and calling her backward,while others praising her and calling her a "virtuous" woman. I've read so many social media comments and heated debates that have even lead to insults flying, and this is my take.

I think that what she did was quite precious, but I don't understand why it's stirring up such a debate and strong opinions from everyone. I highly doubt she did this to stir up all this attention. She was probably so moved at the moment and wanted to show her appreciation in the highest order by kneeling, as the African culture has it. What I don't like here is the message a lot of people are interpreting from it. A lot of men have gone on to praise her for being an "obedient and submissive" wife, while going on to insult other women for not practicing such and accepting that the man is ontop and to always be respected. One person even went as far as saying that this is the reason many marriages are failing, because women don't know how to respect their husbands like this. I think the men that see it that way are a bit narrow minded( just a tiny bit.) For me It's not really a husband over wife thing, it's more of a respect and appreciation thing. Anyone can kneel down to show appreciation, be it a man, woman, adult or child.  Women appreciate their husbands in different ways everyday, and men appreciate their wives in different ways everyday as well. Why is everyone so strongly opinionated about this? We see this happen everyday in our side of the world. Appreciation is a wonderful thing and should always be recognized as such, regardless of how a person chooses to express it. 

Does anyone else hold strong feelings about this that they wish to share?