labels

To reclaiming our identities & narratives…

We live in a world that teaches us to diminish ourselves to nothing

A world of deadly connotations

That devastate the human body of the very thing it needs to be whole —

h u m a n i t y.

We live in a world where “girl” is a synonym for “incompetent”

Where “Muslim” and “woman” used in the same sentence is a symbol of oppression

Where “black” is equivalent to “inferior” and “white” is equivalent to “prestigious”

A world in which the word “menstruation” itself is repulsive enough to make some faces scrunch up in disgust

But “rape” gets a less shocking response

A world where “beauty” means “superficial”,

Where “money” means “power”,

Where “Islam” means “terrorism”,

Where “love” means “weakness”,

And “society” means “them”…

We blame the world for these deadly connotations and yet

We fail to realize that we make up the world.

Labels only exist if you let them

Sometimes blinding even the best of men and women

The true test is discovering this weakness in ourselves

And embracing the fact that equality is not selective.

Whoever said “knowledge is power” was wiser than they probably realized

Because knowledge…

Knowledge is what leads to redemption

To realization

To acceptance

To hope.