mind and muse

I’ve been thinking a lot about the women in Afghanistan, and how they are enduring the most severe humans rights crisis in the world. It makes me so angry when I see girls go on the internet and complain about their boyfriend not buying them the right color flowers, when there is a woman out there who doesn’t even have a right to choose who she marries. There are out of touch girls on the internet complaining about her clothing, when the Afghan women are forced to wear a Burqa, which covers her entire face and body even in the summer heat. She can’t speak, she can’t go anywhere without having a man by her side, she can’t show her face, she has 0 basic human rights. Truly, the only difference between her and the girl who complains about her boyfriend and clothes, is where they were born.

I normally don’t write about stuff like this, but right at this moment, it feels right. I’m a firm believer in the quote from Little Women, “just because my dreams are different that yours, doesn’t mean they’re not important”. That same thing goes for our own personal problems in our lives. For example, my biggest dilemma right now is where i’m going to transfer to for college within the next few years. Just because i’m not worried where my next meal is coming from, doesn’t mean my own concerns and worries aren’t valid or important. However, with that being said, my problems really are so small in the grand scheme of things. The grass is always greener.

The accident of birthplace changes our circumstances, but not humanity. And it kills me that people don’t understand that. We live in a world where racism, classism, religious discrimination, and dehumanization is so normalized and exists FREELY. I’m honestly so grateful I went to a predominately lower-middle class middle school and high school, and now attending community college where any and everyone gets fair education with lots of diversity, and different backgrounds. Nothing makes me more enraged then when someone thinks they are worth more, cooler, and better simply because maybe they look different. Maybe they happen to have more money, more things, more opportunity. Because in my opinion, absolutely no one is better than anyone. We are all people, with the same blood, and the same fears and desires no matter what they may be. Unfortunately I don’t think we will ever achieve true peace, fairness, and equal community, it’s simply impossible in this state of the world. But it feels like a calling to explain how we are all more alike than different. The distance between us is an illusion. We are all the same, no matter what. And if those statements make you resentful, then there may be something seriously wrong…but then again, there’s a lot wrong with this world.

Not quite sure when we became so out of touch, but it was somewhere between consumerism and the current state of the economy. This is a part of the reason why I believe deleting apps like TikTok would be effective. No more unrealistic expectations, no more comparison, no more anything. Just simple, civil, human connection in real life. Social media is such a problem child in most cases to be honest, but I know it’s easier said than done to just be done with it. I dream of a world where everything is accurate, and undivided. I guess i’m just writing this in effort to be influential, and educational, even though at the end of the day everything i’ve said is just an opinion; an empowering opinion.

Nevertheless, the human experience is universal. Humanity shouldn’t and does not end at a border. We often call ourselves fortunate, but how much of our fortune is simple geography? If we had been born somewhere else, under different laws and expectations, who would we be today? If human rights are truly “universal”, why does access to them depend so heavily on where a person is born. With that in my mind, my conclusion is still the same. The next time we see a woman denied an education, a child facing discrimination, or a family living under oppression, I feel like the question we should be asking is not “How are they different from me?” but instead, “What is that were me?”.