Sunday, September 18, 2016

The Mask You Live In


Growing up there was always different stereotypes in our society that associated the color pink with girls and blue with boys. Usually when you think of a child playing with a doll you would imagine a girl holding it. Same idea with a boy holding a toy truck. Every child is unique; a child's gender shouldn't give you the assumption on how you think they should express themselves. In the end, you want your child to be whatever makes them happy, and it should make you happy as well. As far back as I can remember every toy I had was pink and something with sparkles. No one ever told me which toys were appropriate and inappropriate for my gender. Always receiving girly toy's seemed normal so from there on out I knew girls play with these toys and boys play with those toys. Growing up with an older brother, most of the time I just played with whatever he was playing with. I had my own toys as well. I was into Polly pocket and bratz doll. 


My Favorite Book


When I was in middle school, I had the opportunity to read a book that made me look at my life and appreciate everything so much more than i did before. The book was The Giver, written by Lois Lowry. The main character, Jonas, lives in a society where the people who live there have no free choice, no memory of the past, and are unable to see any colors other than black and white. This does not bother him because he doesn't know any better. One day Jonas is assigned with the job of being the "receiver." He is the only person living in this society who will have memories of the past. These memories include anything from people fighting at war to everyone being happy and celebrating something. When he receives the memories, he decides it is time for society to change and fights to make life in the society normal again.
This book changed how I look at society because I had a new appreciation for the freedom I have. I have the freedom to be who I am without anyone telling me who to be, the freedom to choose the occupation I want when I grow up, and the freedom to see the world as it really is without filters. This book made me realize that in society, we have to accept the good with the bad because if we try to completely take away the bad, we will not appreciate the good.