You be Ewe

We are all different, born into the world unique. Ten fingers, ten toes, but sometimes we don’t even have that in common. Some are born with deformities, or are maimed through accidents. We have dark skin, light skin, or change our skin color through the sun, or the use of products. We have dark hair, light hair, no hair at all, or change the color of our hair.
We are given conflicting messages from birth.
Girls are dressed in pink, boys are dressed in blue. We are told to be unique, be ourselves, and be proud of who we are. We are told to be normal, not make waves, and to try to “fit in”. We are told we can be anything we want. We are taught that we should take care of our appearances, because first impressions are everything. On one hand looks are very important, on the other, you should never judge somebody by how they look. We are trained to follow fashion trends so we don’t look foolish or out of style. We are told to be ourselves and not follow the crowd. We are told not to step out of line or cause waves.
How can we be ourselves when so many forces tell us to be normal. Our roles in life often laid down by our parents who define our early years. Girls given dolls, boys given trucks. Girls taught that good grooming matters and how to co-ordinate clothing, boys given excuses to be rough, “boys will be boys” and not allowed to be tender or cry.
You can grow up to be what ever you want. Just don’t do anything that makes you look foolish. You can be yourself and stand out, but maybe you should just follow the crowd. Isn’t it a pity that we don’t feel safe enough in this world to be independent, or speak out. People are afraid to be different, everyone wants to be normal, and the definition of normal was decided by whom?
If a news anchor showed up to work dressed in an old tee-shirt and torn jeans, we would expect it to be Halloween or April fools day. If a businessman wore a dress nobody would take him seriously.
I consider myself darn lucky that some time ago some woman was gutsy enough to wear “mens” clothing, or what we call pants.
The envelope is being pushed, with more people, the definition of normal is being challenged. Not everyone is happy living a cookie cutter existence. Diversity is what makes the world a more interesting place. We were born different, we are not the same. We need to accept people who are different and celebrate them for making our world more interesting.