"For You, Me, And Everybody"

I think the name of the first boy I saw coming to school with a Mohican was Cary. And it wasn't a half- hearted effort. Bright purple and it doubled the size of his head. I was more than a little bit in awe, being someone who had done their best, not always successfully, to fade into the background. I wasn't a punk.

Sticking your head where it can be noticed is a risk. The world is full of people who will be prepared to take a shot at you for having the audacity. Maybe it's in school where we learn the art. You can't be wrong if you never answer teacher's questions.  You don't get laughed at or bullied if nobody knows you are there.

These days I aspire to be the one prepared to make a fool of themselves. I mean for most of us, getting laughed at is the worst that can happen. No one is going to kill us.

However, I digress. Because this blog was meant to be about what we have in common.

The truth is that the real legends in life are the ones who risk that little bit more to teach us that as human beings, we have the same blood, we should work to together, we shouldn't fight. In fact they stand out in order to show us what we have in common.

Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, Martin Luther King  shot, for putting their heads above the parapet and shouting out loud that our life blood is the same,  skin colour  irrelevant.

Ghandi got himself shot for visibly demonstrating that the solution to oppression  between religions and classes should be strong, head held high, cooperative, peaceful resistance. Because violence against others is violence against ourselves. We are the same.

The lone man standing in front of the tanks at Tiananmen Square  was standing up for what he shared

with his fellow Chinese, not for what made him different. A desire to exist without oppression from his fellow human beings.

And Cary. Cary was a blooming peacock. And his hair stood proud for  the suppressed beauty in all of us school children who had too quickly learned to hide our lights.

But we can unlearn too.




The line "For You, Me, And Everybody" is from today's Fee Comes Fourth tune Life Is Difficult. You can download it for free by following the link.