25 Day Photography Challenge - Day 8: Black & White
As a child and throughout my adolescence I was a person who very much regarded things as either being black or white. In my opinionated mind there could be no in-between. I wasn't the most tolerant and severely impatient. I was outspoken about things I felt passionate about; women rights and equality and I was a vegetarian to boot. I had a clear idea of what was right and wrong, there was no maybe for me.
When I was around fifteen I started to discover that I was different to other teenage girls around me. Instead of wanting to get male attention I wanted the opposite. Suddenly I was faced with a dilemma. I found myself to be in an area of grey matter. I struggled through my black and white world for a couple of years more, carrying my grey matter under a cloak of secrecy, terrified of being found out. My sexuality was starting to make me question my own place in the world. I didn't know anybody gay, I was fifteen and it was not something my generation spoke about openly. Things I had seen or heard in relation to homosexuality had always been negative and this confused me in my black and white world. In order to be myself and survive I had to start seeing more than black and white.
Slowly I started opening my eyes and I discovered the world was far from black and white and that I was far from grey matter. Once I let myself look beyond I saw such a wide array of colours. Little by little I started to come around, retreating to my black and white world every now and then, not quite ready for the rest.
Going to college saw the colours begin to bleed in, diluting and in many cases covering the black and white which once defined me. Moving to Mexico was the cherry on top as I learned how to be tolerant and accepting, how to be patient and understanding and most importantly I learned to accept myself. I was finally ready to live in colour!
To this day I am still fiercely opinionated but not afraid to challenge the black and white. I can still be intolerant when things really deserve not to be tolerated but a black and white state is reserved now only for photographs. It only took me around a decade but I have come to realise that the world can be a beautiful place when you allow yourself to look and see the colours.
No comments:
Post a Comment