It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. – Audre Lorde

Being Different is Hard

Being different is hard.  As a kid, it’s hard to be different than everybody else.  It leaves you open to bullying and loneliness. As an adult, sadly it’s not much different. If you’re not like everybody else, you can be ostracized. It’s incredibly sad, and incredibly wrong.  We should celebrate our differenceinstead of being like lemmings and following the crowd.

To me, the bravest person in the world is someone who is their own person, does their own thing, and doesn’t care what the rest of the world thinks of them.  I’m not that person. I want to be, but I’m not. I’m afraid of being different. But I’m also not someone who is critical of those who are different. I think the greatest gift we can give each other is the acceptance of people for who they are.

That gift starts with you, about you. Don’t make excuses for your differences. Celebrate them.  Be proud of what makes you different! I think if we all just accepted the differences in ourselves, it would be so much easier to accept them in other people.  And if we could accept the differences in others, think about how much happier and peaceful our world would be. Be who you are, celebrate who you are.  Accept who others are and celebrate them. Being different doesn’t have to be hard, it should be wonderful.

Sorry that this post was a day late – but yesterday was prom set up and last night was prom for our school, and I was a very tired camper by the time I got home!