It's funny how the world has your back one minute, then turns on you the next.
It's sad how we can celebrate something, then change our minds when the ebb of society flows another way.
It's annoying how one has to prove their worth in order to feel like a human.
This morning, social media was buzzing with praise over Caitlyn Jenner (the Olympian formerly known as Bruce Jenner). What I read was overwhelming support. Slowly, throughout the day, it started to turn and I started seeing negative comments. I tried not to let this bother me on the fact that each person is entitled to their opinion and that my reaction would be more of a reflection of myself than of them. After all, what would be the end result I would be hoping for? Another person to think like me? That just sounds boring.
However, now, I've had enough. So I am saying something. Because that's what I do.
I'm not out to change opinions, mind you. I'm just here to offer a different point of view.
As of this morning, Caitlyn Jenner was lauded as a brave role model for displaying her transformation and being true to herself. Now, however, those titles have been stripped as she is not as brave as someone, say, like a veteran.
I just want to point out that we are comparing apples to oranges, people. Actually, we're comparing a transgender person to someone who has served in the military.
And since when do the terms "hero," "courage," and "bravery" fall into a specific category? Since when is there a checklist for when those can be used?
I suggest - and slap me silly if this is just entirely off the wall - that both can be classified as brave.
I know. Shake your head and pass the smelling salts. I'm a rebel.
It does not mean that one is more brave or more heroic than the other. Again, it's apples and oranges. I believe that Caitlyn Jenner is brave because she is choosing to be who she wants to be and completely change around her life. She's going through a divorce, operations, physical changes, mental changes, emotional changes. This has all been in the public eye, with scrutiny and criticism, but she's done it anyway. That, to me, is bravery.
I also find the people that offer their lives for this country and it's citizens to be brave. They put their lives on the line, leave their family behind with the uncertainty that they'll ever see them again, they live in shitty conditions in places where people only want them dead. And all for little reward. That, to me, is bravery.
Other people that I consider brave: volunteers, nurses, teachers, police officers, firefighters, my best friends, my mother.
All of these people are brave for different reasons. Those different reasons don't make them any more or less brave than the next. My fear, which has already come true, is that we are using bravery as another means to judge each other. My other fear is that when we start assigning a scale to bravery, we will eventually all lose it.
You don't know what a person has been through. You don't know what their mind, body or soul has endured. You cannot establish how brave another person is. To attempt this is to tell that person that they are simply not enough. We are all brave, in one small way or another.
Bravery is a courageous behavior or character. Courage is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation.
These are the only definitions we should go by. Beyond that, bravery is in the eye of the beholder. I, for one, choose to keep my eyes open.
*** And if you're wondering where the title for this little rant came from, click here.
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