I love chocolate. For me, chocolate is about as good as it gets, and it’s perfect for every occasion. Just aced that WHAP quiz? Chocolate! Stressing out about classes? Chocolate! Your best friend is going through a heartbreak? You probably bought the whole Willy Wonka factory. So since I love chocolate so much, let me begin this post by talking about M&Ms. And of course, everyone has a favorite color of M&Ms.
So, backtrack to our 1st grade potluck, yes, I was that kid who held up the line for ages while I separated all the green M&Ms, ensuring that my disgusting fingers carefully inspected each and every M&M as I scouted for the green ones. And if you said that you wanted the green M&Ms? Girl, you better back it up before have ourselves a Cain and Abel type of situation.
In 3rd grade, reality slapped me across the face when I had learned that all M&Ms were the same. WHAT?! Yes. The only difference between my beloved green M&M and that lower class orange one was food coloring, and that in reality, they all tasted the exact same. My mind was blown. I’m going to liken my M&M situation to society. Society constantly puts us into categories by basically completely arbitrary things. We judge based on skin color, name, style, appearance, grades, and everything in between. But what we fail to recognize is that we’re all the same inside.
Society labels us like we’re produce in a market. Black, white, brown - these are all simply labels. Since the day we were born, we were force fed these labels. Skinny is pretty, black is hood, the kid with the highest grades is the smartest. But what good do these labels do? Labels create division and division creates conflict. No one is born racist, or sexist - it’s learned. We are taught that skinny is pretty, we are taught black is hood, we are taught the kid with the highest grades is the smartest, and never, ever doubt them. We are told to judge people every day, so often, it becomes instinct. And anyone that doesn’t fit that cookie cutter template is cast out.
I was also force fed these labels, to be scared of anyone different from what I thought of to be “safe” or “civilized.” I’ve been dancing for 10 years, which is close to 70% of my life. When I was in 7th grade, I got the opportunity to work with physically and mentally disabled kids through my dance program by teaching them how to dance. To be completely honest, I was so close to letting it go. I had been swallowing down prejudice and labels for years, and couldn’t imagine what people would think of me if I spent my Wednesday nights with those kids. You spend your free time with them? They’re dumb. You do know that they don’t have a brain right? They can’t even take care of themselves, you’re wasting your own time.
After casting out these negative thoughts, I decided to give it a chance, and to this day, have never looked back. This May will be my fifth showcase with the kids I’ve taught and performed with, and are some of the most sweetest people I’ve ever met.
My main takeaway is this: don’t let society bog you down with labels. You define yourself; don’t give that power to anyone else. Whenever society tell you that you cannot do something, prove them wrong - unless, you know, it’s actually illegal, in which case don’t do it. Isn’t it crazy that a baby cries when they hear someone else cry - regardless of weight, looks, smarts, skin color, or any other category. We are instinctively meant to care for one another, regardless of labels. When you give into prejudice, you’re not only limiting what you can accomplish as a person, but bringing everyone else down with you. Since the time you’ve started reading this, 525 people have died. That’s 525 people who didn’t live life to the fullest, who were suffocated with labels and divisions and arbitrary ways to categorize people to make it seem like it’s us versus them, but it’s not. We’re all people in the end, we’re all the same on the inside. Live and let live.
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