I’ve always wondered why dwarfs are looked at differently. Why society treats some bodies as strange or other.
My curiosity doesn’t stop there.
It reaches
Really tall people,
Really short people,
Individuals with distinct facial features: prominent eyeballs, voluminous lips, beautiful huge noses, or an excellently magnificent forehead.
I often wonder why humans are judged by how they look before being heard
And I also wonder why the words “normal” and “unique” exist when describing humans.
Who exactly decided that certain features are “normal” and others are “unique”?
Why am I looked at differently because I have a magnificent forehead?
I remember my first year on campus. I was bald, yes, I intentionally shaved every strand of hair on my head. I hated hair; it gave me the irk.
I experienced what it felt like to not fit into what society labels as normal for the first time. I vividly recall walking down to my faculty's screening venue during my second visit. Eyes were literally on me throughout my walk. I had visited the barbing salon two days prior, so my scalp was glistening. I hadn’t even thought my bald head was the reason until I asked my friend if there was something wrong with my clothing. She pointed out that I looked different from every other female, that I didn’t look normal.
Throughout my first year on campus, I didn’t like going out. Whenever I stepped out, I always got compliments. It was so much that I believed it was fake, forced, and a form of mockery. A man even called me Jada once. It was funny, but not really funny.
I can grow my hair, so I wondered how individuals who could not correct the so-called “abnormal” features lived. I wondered what it felt like to be looked at differently every day.
Normal shouldn’t exist.
What is termed normal is simply what is common. What is common is just numbers, statistics. It shouldn’t drive societal perceptions and judgments, especially since it isn’t scientific. Science doesn’t even create humans; it only categorizes phenotypic features.
Humans do not get the privilege to give their opinion on how others look just because they appear different from the crowd.
I believe I am too beautifully complex to be rated on a scale of 1-10
I also believe that the words normal and unique diminish the magnificent creation we’re all part of. They reduce the beauty of human variations to mere perceptions.
If I like to wear skirts over jeans, that shouldn’t attract stares. Don’t look at me like I’m weird. I am allowed to think differently, aren’t I?
And if I decide to wear my singlets over my shirts, please let me. Don’t stare at me. I am allowed to dress however I like. I am allowed to express myself differently.
I do not have to fit into normal.
I do not have to fit into unique either.
Both are boxes. And I was never meant to live inside one.
Well, all these thoughts are wishes and we all know wishes aren’t horses so I guess we have a lot of work to do to correct how we think. A whole lot.
Because, we as a society made what is common the standard and forgot everything else.