Epithets.
It isn't supposed to be this difficult.
To live a life just like the others,
For us to be just as happy as everyone else seems to be,
For us to at least be considered equally important,
For our choices to be considered equally as interesting as those who wish to make different ones,
Or to have an equal share in the rights and freedoms that we're all entitled to.
Humans have the power to let lose all boundaries.
But why must we give in to them in the first place?
Who gives us the power to put a label on anyone we feel isn't similar to us?
Or even decide who we consider as human beings?
Why must we create a distinction between the privileged and the underprivileged?
Why must we label those who have different preferences or identities as another community?
Why must we glorify their need for freedom, while the entire humanity is still caged by its own thoughts and mindsets?
Putting a label or creating a community doesn't make it easier for people to justify their rights.
Rather, working towards one integrated community can make it far simpler for anyone and everyone to live a happier life.
Why must we consider a disorder as the highest level of difficulty?
Or give those an excuse to judge anyone with it?
Rather, if we legitimize every little difficulty as real,
If we could stop throwing around words that we consider less important in our casual conversations,
Or give a listening ear to anyone with the minutest discomfort because, for once, something like this isn't charged at unaffordable rates.
If only we could consider the norm as important as the LGBTQ+, would it be fair to consider the LGBTQ+ as important as the norm.
Only then can we find ourselves justifying humankind.
If only we stop defining people as "us" and the others, would we all be truly considered equal, irrespective of what we're born with, the choices we make or the preferences we have.
Only then, could life seem a little less difficult.
~Dhriti Malhotra