No Such Thing As Labels
Life in the now. Let's change it. We have to.
So here’s the thing. I rarely voice my opinion on serious subjects because if it’s serious enough for me to worry and take a stance, there’s a good chance it makes me sick to even think about. But here it is, living in today’s world I honestly would rarely watch the news or read articles about anything going on because it scared the absolute living shit out of me. I wanted to live in my bubble. Watching and reading all the horrifying things in the world literally had an impact on me as a person, it made me depressed. In my mind ignorance was bliss. But as I grew older I realized I didn’t just want to pretend it didn’t exist, I wanted to make a difference. Make a difference. Yeah…right. Like I could ever make any kind of impact. It was a far-fetched idea but I just wanted the world to be different so very badly. So I started paying more attention, and started voicing my opinions more. In light of everything that has been happening with black lives matter and hate crimes with officers I only have one stance and I’m definite in it. I first of all need to shed light on how this has impacted me in a way I never even realized. Today, my job that I have been waitressing at for years offered free entrees to police officers. I had the option to work. I chose not to. And it was because I was scared. In this day, does that make me paranoid or realistic? It’s hard to even tell. On the post my restaurant put out on facebook there were actual angry face reactions. People were upset, people were calling asking if we were giving “blacks” free meals as well. There was a clear divide and it scared me to be a part of taking a stance that I was not ready to take. Today is the day I realized I’m scared to live in the world I’m living in right now. I wouldn’t work this event. I couldn’t work this even. And I was terrified to work this event. My stance is this. Everyone is wrong. Everyone is wrong in everything happening. If we continuously punish people for a label that they are “black”, “cop”, “gay”, “straight” we will run ourselves right into the ground over actions of bad people who were just coincidentally theses “labels” as well. These people are not just “black”. These people are not just “cops”. This person is not just “gay”. And that person is just not “straight”. They are people. PEOPLE. When you refer to yourself do you just note yourself as (in my instance) a white, straight, female? No, we don’t. Because we know we’re so much more than our appearance. We talk about our interests, our hobbies, our families, and our occupations. You know why? Because that is what YOU are. You are not your appearance or your profile or your label. And that is what everyone is. An individual. INDIVIDUAL. That is the word to remember. That is the word to remember that we are all separate and different and not just our appearance. There are a type of people out there though. Bad people. They are the ones who give the bad names to everyone else of a similar background. Let us not fight each other over these people because we happen to be lumped in. Let us be individuals because we are not those people and let us not only be individuals but let us be individuals who unite together to fight against the bad people who gave us our labels. And who gave us our bad reputations. Because we are not them. This is the time. Let us be one. Let us remember we are not our “labels”. It is the only way this will work.