“We are all the same” … Common sense says. This is a phrase that in theory is beautiful, but when we think about it in practice… Would it be like this?
We know that it is not so, but I leave these questions:
- Are we really “equal”?
- Do we really have to be “equal”?
It is very common to hear that we are all the same, that everyone has rights equally. Others, when they hear this, refute it saying that in theory, yes, it is true, but in practice it is quite different, that there are prejudices, discrimination and groups of people who are more valued, are more socially privileged. Yes, that they have more social access… I won't deny that this exists, but that's not what this post is about.
The idea of ​​writing this article came to me with a conversation, a movie and a series.
One day, I was scheduling my routine exams and, while I was in the waiting room, I heard a girl talking to a couple about differences, about the genetic, biological issue that can vary a lot, they also talked about the issue of sexuality and gender. The two girls discussed the issue of them having a syndrome (I don't remember the name), which caused them to be classified by medicine as intersex - which flows biologically between male and female - but which, despite everything, did not stop being women.
I started the conversation by saying that in biology there are many chromosomal variants, which medicine is still discovering. I told her that I am a woman with Turner syndrome, I talked about what it was, we were comparing the similarities and differences of the two syndromes, we were comparing my case with theirs, the biological part (internal and external), about fertility, we even laughed when I told my journey with hormones, we commented on the stereotypes and stigmas with these two syndromes… Wow, I was amazed, because human beings are complex and diverse!
Anyway, who wants the full story, I told it in an audio on my Telegram channel.
Since then, I had this idea to write about the issue of differences, which are so present around us. But as we stay within our social bubbles, we don't see beyond and that made me reflect on the way we deal with differences in general.
Do we pay attention to other people, their stories? Is there enough empathy for that? How have we acted in the face of differences? I bring again the phrase “we are all equal” for debate. If we were all the same, we would have the same physical, emotional and cognitive characteristics. To say that we are all the same is to ignore the particularities of anyone.
Let's be realistic, we know very well and we don't miss the opportunity to label who is white, black, brown, tall, short, thin or fat. Without forgetting the social issue that favors certain groups more. Then no. We are NOT the same, it makes no sense to say that we are the same and we don't even have to be the same. I say this from the heart.
If we were all the same, the world would be the most boring thing there is. It's like living in a place with only one color. Imagine if there was only one color in the universe, if the only color that existed on this planet was, for example, red, or if everything was blue or purple? Notice how wonderful these different nuances of colors are, how each one complements each other and from them come new colors and shades, this gives life to the planet!
That's why we have to stop talking about being the same, wanting to standardize everything.
The venerable Roshi Coen, or as everyone calls her, Monja Coen, once said about not being superior, not inferior, not equal to another, she even talked about fairness and how that brings harmony, so why not meet and embrace the differences, why keep us in a bubble?
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When I put together a script for Dark Wings, I put it together thinking beyond what it would be like if angels lived among us and about how we treat differences and Machiavelli's concept of the "villain and the hero" (I talked about it in a live with the also writer, Mione Lefay); there's no way to have a broader view of the world if we don't know the various realities that exist in the world, even more so for us writers. How could I, as a writer, create a story, a character if I kept myself in a bubble or looking only at people who would be “similar”? Impossible, I speak of being empathetic, of putting ourselves in the other's shoes.
Will there be things that will shock you or impress you at first? Yes sure! I just told you this personal story, which impressed me, as well as situations that will shock you at first and you will have to absorb it to understand, right?
For example, I once watched a movie – I don’t remember the name – whose theme was materiality and minimalism, it’s not one I’m used to watching, it was a movie I had to pause halfway to absorb all that, It took me longer to finish watching. This film had the purpose of showing a vision of belief and lifestyle that not everyone has and although it is not so different from mine, I reviewed a lot in myself and made me reflect also on the way we live life and how we are living with others, with our differences.
Another movie, I mean, the movie that gave me this insight to write about differences, was a Netflix original movie called “Crush at the height” (Portuguese); “Tall girl” (English), which has as its protagonist a teenager who was very insecure about her appearance. She was super tall, the tallest student in her school.
This film makes you reflect on aesthetic standards and personally it was a film that made me feel very emotional, it brought back memories of my adolescence, it was as if I had gone back in time, back in my 16 years, only looking from the outside, like that scene in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" where Hermione uses a time-turner?
Well, I got to “sweat” a little through my eyes and I laughed too, for two reasons. The first was that I realized that we brood over things we don't need. Second, I hadn't seen a tall woman's point of view. I mean, I've watched documentaries, read articles about tall people, but I believe I hadn't put myself in those people's shoes until watching this movie, it brought me a different perspective.
You start looking at things from a different point of view. That's what I also felt when I started watching a series called “Artificial Selection” (Portuguese); “Unnatural selection” (English), a documentary about genetic variability and the possibility of curing diseases of genetic origin by hacking the DNA through an experiment by a group of scientists. This documentary also shows the opinion of the scientific community, on ethics in medicine, on laws regulating the use of such genetic treatment, the side effects.
I admit that at first, when I started watching this series, I was shocked, I was thinking how surreal it was, but I kept my mind open to watching it and I came to the conclusion that we human beings are so similar and at the same time , different from each other. Understanding these differences makes our coexistence better with others and living in society.
