The Nature of Identity Within Society
The Nature of Identity Within Society
I don’t know if we’ll ever be whole. Not that we ever were in the past. It has struck me, though, recently, that, while we, or at least I, frequently discuss, and, indeed, logically understand that our rights are not our own and we are entirely unequal in so many aspects of life and in so many places, I haven’t really understood emotionally that I will never live with the same security as someone who was born ‘normal’: straight, neurotypical, impervious and unworried. It is so much more painful to understand this fact. I categorically should not have to live this way. It is a crime against nature and against humanity that any person should.
Our lives are impacted at every intersection by our identity. We cannot help who we are, but we are victimized by it. We exist in a world that does not care what we do, but only who we are. We are defined, most imperatively, by that which we cannot change. We should not have to exist in this state. It is, fundamentally, unnatural that we are expected to conform to standards we can never meet. Our world has determined a bland ‘average’ which is, in fact, anything but. Our identities, in almost every circumstance, exist only within society as bounds to hold us back, when it is determined that we have stepped too far towards a better world. Such is the nature of personality, individuality, humanity within the world.
I can understand, though, that I am, in fact, deeply privileged and live a comparatively comfortable life to so many. I am able to hide, shamefully, for years, listening to cruel words about my identity, but never have to react. By some decision by an unalterable cruel god, if such exists, they aren’t ever aimed at me. I pass by, evidently too capably alterable, by which I – suffer, by exoneration from the whole – but, more clearly, am blessed. Some, or perhaps even many, do not possess this privilege. I can understand this. The extent to which I can understand this is devastating. It still hurts. It’s an agony that I suppose some cannot ever understand, but also an agony that most can and do. I can’t stop existing as myself because others face worse issues than being able to hide who they are.
The fact remains, though, that, no matter how awful I feel, how much I pity those I cannot save, or how many times I try to ignore our world, that, no matter how sweet ignorance calls, she is but an empty promise of impossibility. We cannot ever be truly ignorant of the issues of our world, because it is here that we live, and it is here that we must continue. Imagining that our world is elsewhere will serve no purpose.
We must, therefore, act. We cannot rightfully claim ignorance. We cannot ignore. We must seek that which will change our world for the better. It is the only choice we have. We are human, and it is in our nature to want a world that is better. I call, in the name of all that exists and all that does not, in the name of myself and every other person, every other child who has seen and not ignored, that we must fight. We must act, for the good of our world. It is not a choice; it is the demand that our world has placed upon our shoulders.
The Voice
April 2025
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