Social Deconstruction of our Truths

Flags of freedom do not sway in a straight line; then why should people of a democratic country be moved under the same umbrella of good or bad, what’s right and whats wrong, what’s the norm and what isn’t. Living in such a diverse country, the “norm” should be understanding that people have choices. We need to educate ourselves into understanding and respecting that the way people decide to lead their lives. It becomes problematic when an individual is ostracized by society and charged with the crime of being different, as if their fault that the body they have known to be male, proves female many years later. It is offensive when society eliminates one from the circle of those worthy of the human title because of their religion; the same reason we do a double-take every time we see the Muslim board the plane, the reason we feel uncomfortable sitting in a bus next to the man in a skirt, the 2 women holding hands or the gay men sitting head on shoulder with each other. We have let society categorize us into these constructed roles and dos and don’ts that we no longer have the capacity to love and live open mindedly with one another. We classify ourselves as normal and anything extraordinary as sick, disrespectful and disgraceful, wrong and attention seeking. We are blinded by the need to honor to our roles so much that we fail to acknowledge the courage of the mother who refuses to suffer abuse in silence at the hands of her husband, the Muslim man who wears his hijab to work everyday or the gay son who won’t let his father “turn him into a man”. We must understand that softness has no gender, love has no sexuality and life as we know it is limitless. I strongly believe that if self-doubt was a religion, it would be the only belief shared with a global consensus. We have minimized ourselves and our values to emptiness. Instead of working to rebuild back the sentimentality in what we hold as values, we discourage the small masses who endeavor towards restoring meaning and purpose. In his ted talk, Simon Sinek speaks of identifying the “why” in what we do. Why do we do the things we do, why do we feel what we feel or say the things we say? We need to question our actions and their impacts. Why are we uncomfortable around the people who proudly embrace who they are? Why do we see the scary things we see in people. The next time you are in a bus, plane or a train, and feel yourself uncomfortably fidgeting because of the person next to you; ask yourself these questions: Why am I thinking what I am thinking about this person? Is it true? Is it fair?