Same but different…
Ever heard of the phrase “same but different…”? Well it rings true in most cases, particularly with regards to your choice in attire and how you opt to carry it off. For instance, a couple of my work mates and I were strolling into office one day, when we were quite taken up with our reflection on one of the glass doorways into office. I don’t mean we were taken up with our appearance per say (that goes without saying!) but, as to how similarly we were clad but yet…how different we looked.
We were all sporting jeans and t-shirts and similar footwear but, either due to the way we walked or whether we’d decided to tuck our t-shirts in or the colour we had chosen… we each looked unique in our own right. Like I for one what the average person would refer to as the ideal ‘Hadda’. On the rare day that I come even a ‘bit’ spruced up to work, it sends shock waves throughout my office and everyone’s asking me what the occasion is or if I’m feeling alright.
However, the main thing is that I’m comfortable with my identity so nothing really gets to me regarding my ‘not-so-refined’ appearance. In addition, the people around me have adapted quite well to the way I look and now even find my manner of dress to be quite normal. That’s why they say that most things tend to just ‘grow on you’ even if it doesn’t seem acceptable at the start.
For instance, if you were to see a bunch of friends talking and laughing out loud on a street corner, you’d not think twice before labelling them a rowdy or boisterous crowd of youngsters. Did it ever strike you that maybe “birds of a feather didn’t always flock together”? Point worth pondering on huh?
Drawing a reference once again to my office mates, we do most things together (most… not all, don’t fear!). Sitting in or going out for lunch, going for plays, assignments, you name it we do it together but, the strange thing is that most of us have very little in common. What brings us together however, is the bit in us that we do share in common and also some of the different traits and practices that are unanimously accepted by the group. Some may be good at making others laugh, some may be good natured enough to tolerate being made fun of, some have the brains, some have the brawn, the idea is to identify one’s strengths and see how best you can use it and fit in.
So you see how it would seem unfair to simply take for granted that if we all ‘hang out’ together, we just naturally have to be identical duplication of each other. It’s actually the total reverse. Most groups have friends have an assortment of personalities and mannerisms. For, if everyone in the group were to be pretty much the same, there may be a ‘slight chance’ that a state of boredom beyond compare may take place. We may want to take that into consideration. Yes?
Social stereotyping tends to have quite a negative effect on most things. It’s not just unfair to typecast people but, is also more often than not, off the mark. I may see someone with a streaked scalp and piercings all over his/her body and assume them to be wild, unconventional and basically a rebel. True it may be but, what I don’t see or refuse to see is that this very same person could be a holder of a PHD in Marine Biology! Who could have guessed right?
But, it could well be the case and we would be quite contently using our social yardstick to determine who does or does not fit into the accepted social framework. So you see who jaded or clouded our vision can be sometimes. Society decides who belongs and who doesn’t. I guess it never really occurred to us that we make up the numbers of the society, therefore, we too are responsible for the existence of these so called ‘stereo types’. It would be impossible for us to use our own prerogative or judgement I guess. No of course… that would be way too hard to do.
