My discovery of self-love started when I was 19 and I pushed myself to practice it in my frenetic modern life. Every day, my bare feet touch the floor leading myself to a magical door called the mirror. As much as I enjoy seeing myself, I talk to my image. It reflects who I am, my spirit to face the new world, the scars which remind me of my battles, and a bright smile with which I woke up today. It is like an ancient door which I often knock to remind myself of the purpose of living.
Sometimes, I wish to learn great sorcery to put up a huge mirror in front of the world. Then, every individual can see themselves where they stand dysfunctionally in this restless modernity. Malidoma Patrice Some, author of Of Water and Spirit once said — “The challenge of modernity is to bring the world together into a unified whole in the middle of which diversity can exist.” I believe this unified diversity can only be achieved by owning the truth. The truth which will burn us, which will force us to forgive and evolve, to witness our wildfire to transcend as a breathing light.
Alienation is one of the many faces of modernity. The cure is communication and community — a new sense of togetherness, believes Malidoma. In this journey of togetherness, we need to shed the clothes of identities which makes us aliens. The naked us shall witness all the hypocrisy and nonsense we carry to divide ourselves. Every time I feel I’m somewhere in between different worlds, it is challenging to keep the truth of who I am and to live in where I am. In this chaos, I do achieve belongingness and acceptance.
Being a Gen Z, I used to believe “Love is for fools.” But what I realised is… I am a fool if I cannot see the love in the other and share mine. This isn’t a romantic one, but the humanitarian one. We cannot sacrifice the old for new, or the new for old. When the world is becoming smaller, space needs to be opened up for those things that are hidden. To the reality of inclusivity, we need our magical mirror to witness the diversity we could achieve. It is easy to seed hate in a small diverse land, the challenge is how do we seed love? Are you ready to see yourself in the mirror so that you know how to seed love?
(The author is a performer, poet & a feminist activist who has left her mark with her art, poetry, LGBTQIA+ talks and feminism ideologies. This column will share untold stories of inclusivity & diversity.)