on ageism: the unearned privilege of adults

Why is it that my stress is not valid because I am young? An "adult" is not necessarily more intelligent nor even more experienced than a "child." But still, when I voice my pain, it is shot down as if I have no feelings. I'm getting pretty sick of adults eclipsing me. I have a voice, and I have a valid opinion. I can make my own decisions, and I have my very own feelings. The pain that I feel is real, just like yours.

Adults have this fear of everything. I don't know where it comes from. Maybe it's part of becoming adult, like a special coming of age ceremony. In any case, it's there, and it's eating them from the inside. They are so afraid of their past experiences, and so afraid for those who are younger than them. They don't want us to make the same "mistakes" as they did. They don't want us to regret like they do. Some of them are just on a power-trip. They were put down and controlled throughout their whole childhood, so they want to try and control us now. This also means that they don't respect us. If they respected us, then they would trust us to make our own choices and deal with them by ourselves. They would not try to control us, because they would have no need to.

Well, no thank you. I don't want to be controlled.

Adults need to let go of this fear they are harboring in their souls, or else the world is never going to get better. We are going to make mistakes (just like they will continue to do) and we are going to make good choices. In the end, it doesn't matter if it was good or "bad," it matters that it is our own.

on the subject of cultural appropriation (and consquently, my very first blog post.)

Recently, it was brought to my attention that I might not be acting culturally appropriate. This is because of my desire to get an Ankh permanently inked upon my body for my 18th birthday. I was told to look into the issue of Cultural Appropriation, and that I do not have to emulate a people to represent them. This prompted a series of discussions and thoughts on the subject. First of all, what exactly IS culturally appropriate? Using another culture's religious symbols are not. So what about converting to another culture's religion? How about wearing a piece of clothing that was designed for a different culture? A Sari, perhaps? What about jewelry? How about language? Spanish is not my native language, so why should I learn it and speak it? Interracial dating. Ramah is from Haiti and Vanna here, should they not be mingling? Or even friendships for that matter.
Another thing we have to take into account is how cultures are created. In the course of learning World History, you will find that cultures are created by absorbing other cultures. Should we not be accepting other cultures into our own? Also, as Americans, what the hell IS our culture? We exist as a huge melting pot of people and places, and our culture reflects that. So what is ours?

It seems to me as though cultural appropriation is some bullshit, meant to keep people in their specific places. I don't buy it. The Ankh has been in my life for years now, and I know just as well as anybody else that uses it what it means and how it affects things. Isis is one of my chief Goddesses. I don't believe that getting this symbol applied to my body is inappropriate in any sort of way. Also, I don't believe that I am either emulating a people or trying to represent them. The Ankh has special meaning to me, which is why I have chosen it. (Or rather, why it has chosen me.)

Of course, there is a difference between wearing and using things that you have no idea about. If I were ignorant about the Ankh, this would be an entirely different situation. However, I am not. If anybody has a problem with me wearing the Ankh because they feel it is not "my" symbol to use, that is their issue. The Ankh is mine just like it can be anybody else's, just like anything else on this earth.