Diversity.

This blog makes me want to live in New York. People are unique. They are themselves. They have style. I absolutely love it.

So often I witness people who can't seem to think for themselves. They judge everyone and they base their own interests/opinions/fashion on what everyone else likes/thinks/wears. It seems they lack their own identity.

I'm an Ani DiFranco fan and this morning, as I listened to the poetic lyrics of My IQ, I was thinking about how much her words mean to me.

When I was four years old/
They tried to test my I.Q./
They showed me a picture of 3 oranges and a pear/
They said, which one is different?/
It does not belong/
They taught me different is wrong

Those words demonstrate a thought that I've always struggled with. In our Western society, as I can't speak for any other society, why do people try to teach that different is wrong? We are taught to dress a certain way for job interviews and to put on a false front and a plastic smile when we want to impress someone. We have to play the game. If we have tattoos sometimes people make fun of us and judge us to be someone who doesn't have a job or an education. (I've had people say things to me like, "Why would you do that to yourself?" or "You would be pretty without tattoos.") If we dress up then we are preppy. If we live in a trailer park then we must be "white trash." If we do drugs then we are "bad." If we don't wear designer labels then we must be poor.

I'm always so delighted to find people who defy stereotypes. I have a friend whose mom married a wealthy man. Therefore my friend has money. You would not know it by looking at him. He doesn't look down on people nor does he dress the part—well, what society defines as such...

I always thought it would be so much fun to walk into Tiffany & Co. or some store at the Mall at Millenia, dressed in my usual attire, and throw down thousands of dollars in cash just for the shock value. One day if I ever have money, perhaps I'll do that.

I've been in a store where the worker smiled and said hi to everyone, letting them be. But (my assumption is that), because I have tattoos and was dressed in a torn t-shirt and ripped jeans, the worker's expression changed when she saw my face. She appeared to be disgusted. Then she followed me around as if I was a criminal. I've also had people ask me what I was "trying to prove" by having tattoos and a trihawk. All I could think was how I felt sorry for these people for being so blind.

Sure, we are all guilty of passing judgements on some level, but there is a difference between correlating a look and personality in your head and actually believing the person must behave a certain way because of how he/she looks.

Ever since I can remember, I was the person who never quite fit in with one social group. I am somewhat of a chameleon and could therefore easily adapt to whichever group I was with at the time but it wasn't as if I was truly a part of the group because I've never really been a cliquish kind of gal.

I've always been someone who has had different types of friends. Some rich, some poor. Some fat, some thin. They all dress a certain way. They are different races. They have different interests. Some were "cool" in high school, some were "losers." Some drink or do drugs, some don't.

I just love people. And I love when people are different. I admit I have some crazy tattoos, I wear too many accessories, my outfits are sometimes mismatched, I can be a hypocrite at times and I'm definitely a handful (my moods can shift at the drop of a hat). But I am who I am. And, though I continuously try to be a better and more positive person, I embrace everything that makes me who I am.

Embrace what makes you unique. Don't spend so much time trying to fit in. It's not worth it. So you might get made fun of. You might get judged. So what? At least you are being yourself!