We are unique.
Each of us an exemplification, our own personification, of difference.
Though still, we resent the circumstances that make our individuality, our birthright, glaringly evident.
Our personal histories.
The people, places, and situations that demand we stand apart.
The experiences that leave no option to blend in, to conform, or to pretend.
To those of us who have survived atypical circumstances, denying what makes us different proves challenging. We embody the personal testaments that serve as the case and point to uncomfortable and inflammatory conversations. Living, breathing, portrayals of survival, ours are the realities that no one dares to claim.
The scars we bare, made visible for the world to see.
Our bruises are on display.
The physical, emotional, and psychological evidence of all we have endured.
Every injury sustained, broadcasting difference.
Screaming to anyone who is paying attention, "I am not the same as you!”
It is experience that reinforces the need to celebrate all the ways our uniqueness translate.
No culture, ethnicity, or society has the power to erase the influence of individuality.
Commonality, the unspoken standard we strive towards. Creating bonds and building connections over scripted milestones, moments, and memories that mark communal progress as personal. Finding comfort and community in what the majority have, and have not (dared), experienced. We find mock solidarity in how astutely we resemble one another. We blindly seek validation by erasing the qualities that suggest we are worlds apart.
Individuality, the portrayal of identity that we spend too much time denying to meet the standard of “sameness.”
We should be laughing at traditions that demand for similarity.
Our non-shared experiences demand it.
But. Instead we keep quiet.
The pain we’ve endured is swept under the rug as we hide behind the false token of “sameness.”
Claiming value and solidarity, all the while we are hiding in plain sight.
There is no shame in pain, yet we feel shamed none the same...
Until we get comfortable with each of our personal displays of difference, we’ll allow personal deviations from the societal blueprint of progress as cause to question our value and our evolving sense of belonging.
A life well lived, beyond the confines of the “prescribed” reality, no longer gives cause to doubt, to pity, or to question.
A life well lived, with scars and beauty marks, makes it so that we no longer making peace with the box society demands we squeeze ourselves into
We are those who choose self, growth, and evolution from injury.
We are those who choose to wear our scars, and shine in authenticity.