Lauryn Hill said “Everything is everything,” and even as a young girl that resonated with me. As I grow into my own person and my frontal lobe develops, I feel like I unlock more of the sentiment. Everything is indeed everything—but to what extent?
When I was younger, I always found myself upset when people did things I knew wouldn’t end up how they wanted. I just simply couldn’t grasp how they didn’t see the situation like I did, or why they acted so irrational. However, I’ve learned that people could have been a part of the same thing and have completely different experiences. To you, this could just be an article some high school senior wrote during spring break, whereas to someone else it could be eye opening and profound. And honestly, neither of you would be wrong.
We hear that things may not be as black and white as we’d like—and truly, when you think of those colors, we could think of completely different tones of white, whether it be a really bright white, or a more warm white, maybe a more blue toned white, or a really dark pitch black, or a more purpley black. Intersectionality and seeing the same things but having completely different perspectives is so intriguing to me.
Intersectionality is defined as “The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual.” I, a Black woman, and a Black man can have two different experiences with the same situation, and it can shape our internal worlds in two different ways, although we’re still both Black. A hundred different people can meet me, but they will all know and remember different versions of me because of so many different factors like location, my mood, their mood, the weather, even what outfit either of us were wearing. It makes me wonder: what truly is our reality? Is there even such a thing as a collective reality? Everything is everything, yet everything is different. I genuinely don’t know if this’ll make sense to people outside of my mind, yet there’s another example perspective.
We hear that things may not be as black and white as we’d like—and truly, when you think of those colors, we could think of completely different tones of white, whether it be a really bright white, or a more warm white, maybe a more blue toned white, or a really dark pitch black, or a more purpley black. Intersectionality and seeing the same things but having completely different perspectives is so intriguing to me.
Intersectionality is defined as “The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual.” I, a Black woman, and a Black man can have two different experiences with the same situation, and it can shape our internal worlds in two different ways, although we’re still both Black. A hundred different people can meet me, but they will all know and remember different versions of me because of so many different factors like location, my mood, their mood, the weather, even what outfit either of us were wearing. It makes me wonder: what truly is our reality? Is there even such a thing as a collective reality? Everything is everything, yet everything is different. I genuinely don’t know if this’ll make sense to people outside of my mind, yet there’s another example perspective.
People treat others differently based on how they perceive them to be or act—just because of their looks. If you think someone is attractive, you’re more likely to be nicer to them or have more patience with them, whereas that same person can be seen as unattractive by someone else and be treated more rudely.
I guessss what I’m trying to say is that everything is so much bigger than we first believe. Not every time someone’s upset is it solely about you. Maybe to them the dress actually was white and gold (even though it’s blue and black!) and sometimes people just need more grace than others. You never know where somebody is coming from or what they’re going through. Humans are weird. I don’t know.
I guessss what I’m trying to say is that everything is so much bigger than we first believe. Not every time someone’s upset is it solely about you. Maybe to them the dress actually was white and gold (even though it’s blue and black!) and sometimes people just need more grace than others. You never know where somebody is coming from or what they’re going through. Humans are weird. I don’t know.
AMIYAH ALLEn
