Don’t you feel lucky, lucky to live in a world, in a society that is so accepting. A place that welcomes you with open arms and allows you to embrace the true nature of your being. The person you were always meant to be.
My generation of striving souls is said to be one of the most accepting and inclusive generations to have graced the worn-out soil of this desolate planet. It allows my mind to harbour the idea that this world is moving towards equality, this generation is doing all it can to include each and every one of us in this ever-so growing and diverse society. But, is it really? Have we truly gotten more accepting as a people? Are we allowing everyone to be who they are without batting an eyelid?
With the help of social media and the fact that almost every other person owns a smartphone, issues such as racism and the upheaval of rights for the LGBTQ+ community have been given great importance. It has paved the way for a new society where we all can stand as one, together in this fight against injustice. However, whilst making the world a better place, providing a comforting bed for any soul to rest on, we are not including those lost, unheard beings who do not fit the general rhetoric of this society. The people who are different, who do not have a roar as loud as a lion, as heavy as a thousand voices. Yes, my readers, we’ll have to face the fact, this world really isn’t as accepting as we think it is.
If you are an introvert, or a person who bottles their personality into a tiny corner inside their mind, a corner only visible to a few, you have every right to be who you were always meant to be. But society doesn’t allow you to be that very person since it doesn’t fit what we people have determined as the ideal personality. Instead, this aimless being is looked down upon, shattered to the very core with a vast array of colourful names thrown at their existence. This “buzzkill”, this “downer” is made to feel worthless, like a burden upon society.
If the words you utter from your mouth and the accent with which you speak are “weird” and “annoying”, then should you never speak again? If you possess a fluid artistic personality that allows you to mould yourself into every crowd you’re thrown into, are you a “falsifier”, a “hypocrite”? Take a step back and you’ll see that we’re creating a niche corner within our community, that only provides a safe zone for those who can “easily” be accepted as a part of this society. And for what you ask? For the simple reason that some people are different, that some people provide a home to their own defining quality. How unfair is that? We are raising our voices for a million, whilst subduing a million others, because it doesn’t fit the agenda of our society?
Take a community as a bouquet of flowers. Some flowers lure our eyes with their vibrant colours, whilst others tingle our sensory receptors with their inviting smells. These flowers are all different, unique, each possessing a quality that helps them stand alone in a crowd. But that difference, that diversity in character is what gives the bouquet the personality that attracts the customer towards it. In an appallingly similar way, the diverse personalities in our society are what give it colour, make it appealing. Picture that. A place where you aren’t forced to be a coloured copy of the person standing next to you. A place where you can set your soul free and be accepted as who you were always meant to be, from the day you landed on this blue planet.
So, my readers, if you are one of those people who feel left out, who feel forced to be someone they are not, I say break free. Shatter this illusion, this false perception with your vibrant beauty, your luminous self. You are who you are, so be true to yourself and to your purpose, for we only get this chance once.
The next time you think of criticising someone for being who they are, take a seat in the grand hall of judgement and ask yourself, who gave you the power to draw the margins on the canvas that is our society.