The World Vs The Normality Agenda (LOVE SIMON CONTEST entry)

Dear World...

To: world483@gmail.com

From: andabagofchips@gmail.com

Subject: healthy advice.

Time: 11:57 AM

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Dear World,

I am just like you.

Well, sort of.

I actually don't know anything about you. To me, you're just a username on a computer screen. But I saw your post on our school forum and you wanted someone to give you advice on how to be liked. I think I can help you.

First off, if you've ever wanted to change, here's a brief suggestion: Don't.

Stay original. This place is filled to the brim of normality, World, don't fall into the flow. If people don't like the way you walk, strut even harder. If they don't like the way you laugh, laugh even louder. Why? Because everyone is born different and each DNA is divergent. This fact alone should be embraced. That fingerprint is yours. Not hers. Not his. Yours.

Own it.

By the way, I'm not making this advice up as I go. I have lived through judgment and hatred. I have been told that I don't deserve to live because of what I am. I've been called a faggot, a dumb-ass, and a freak. And, of course, I might have submitted to these words and believed them. But I soon realized, after I came out to my mom and she accepted me, that I should be proud of who I am. I shouldn't have to live for someone else. This is my life, my heart, and my lungs. I can make my own decisions and learn to break away from the laws of this generic society. I will rock my nappy hair, show off my cocoa skin, and swing my muffin-top until they realize how irrelevant they really are.

I suggest the same for you, World.

Lean back in your chair and take a look at how much you're missing by not being yourself.

Once you have realized the impossible, open your windows and let the air rush in. Read a book and escape into a world of reverie. Forget everything that bothered you in the past and like dust on your shoulders, brush the pain away as if it were never there.

The other thing that I wanted to mention was that love and acceptance takes you far.

In a place of abundant discrimination, acceptance and love could really help in the progression of our high school, don't you think? I mean, when we were kids, we had no need of judgement. We'd speak to anyone who spoke to us and we saw everyone as the same. That is until the world got a hold of our necks and taught us to judge. Please try to break away from this venomous habit by learning to endear your community and accepting what some thought couldn't be accepted.

Through it all, We are all humans and we all deserve some love.

I really hope that this helped you, World. Remember, own who you are.

Love,

Andabagofchips

P.S. who are you?

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