There comes a certain moment in life, usually as a teenager, when an insane epiphany is somehow just, bam, reached. It is arguably one of the worst and best moments of your life. For some, it comes at a much younger age, but for others, it takes a lot longer to figure out. It is this:
Your parents, despite everything you’ve thought so far, are not perfect human beings who do not make mistakes.
Maybe it is only me, sometimes, it is. But I have realized this: up until this moment in time, we are raised to believe that parents are these sort of god-like souls who, despite even if we absolutely hate what they do to us, can do no wrong. I was convinced that if my mom or dad told me to do something, that something was right or wrong, they were always right, despite any doubts I had about it. I thought about their ways in black and white. There was no grey area for me yet. There still isn’t, completely, of course, as I am only 14 and still very much under the control of my parents. But I have matured my thinking.
Parents are like us, just with a whole lot more experience. They are not invincible, they do not know everything, and they are most definitely not always right.
I probably seem naïve, right? Who am I, a mere fourteen year old girl, to declare something as bold as this? I have every right to. I have parents. Parents talk about their children in much worse, much more severe ways than this, of how much of a nuisance we are, and why would we not be allowed to do the same for them? We, as teenagers, are in this stage of inexperienced realization that is slowly becoming experienced realization.
This moment is simply everything to us. This is probably a terrible example, but if one of our parents is insanely, disgustingly misogynistic and has taught us that it’s okay to be this way, once we realize that our parents can be wrong, we say “no”. No is a powerful word, especially against parents in the wrong who have been used to you listening to them all your life.
This moment allows us to become ourselves, whoever that may be. If you are straight, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, or you feel like you cannot be defined as a gender, go for it no matter what anyone tells you. It doesn’t matter what your parents say is “right”. It may be right to them, but is is absolutely not right at all for someone to pretend they are something they are not. It isn’t okay to make someone feel like shit because they aren’t what you are. It sounds cheesy, I know, but in all honesty you are who you are, and there isn’t anything wrong or bad about that.
What I’m saying is this: Love your parents, respect them, follow their rules, but not in any circumstance let them tell you who you are when you know they are wrong. Don’t let them change you, push you into something you have no intention of being or doing. I promise, it will make you so much more satisfied in the long run. We’re all humans who are going to die anyways, so why not be yourself? ♦
sofsea 