That's right, the girl in pink has raised her skill level and has started her own vlog series.
I'm a big fan.
And it doesn't take very long to binge them. Here, I'll make it easy for you. Click here.
Adorable right?
Anyways, more specifically I wanted to talk about vlog #4.
It's a silly video that only grazes the surface about raising your voice, and I think that's mainly why it's been on my mind so much. Barbie just barely cracked the door open and I want to go a bit deeper on it.
What would I raise my voice for?
What would you raise your voice for?
Thinking about it, I've realized that I've lost something I used to have in high school: a vocal opinion. I remember there would be days at church where I would rant and rant about how stupid this one thing was and the injustice of this person. I would go on and on and on. Usually there were very in-the-moment, first-world rants but I had been raising my voice. After graduation, it seems as if I let most people (but not all) just let their opinions walk over mine while I remain silent and tolerant.
I think I must have thought that it was me being considerate of other, allowing them to use their voice. They were probably more influential than me anyways. Maybe I've lost confidence in myself. Maybe I've lost interest in the things I used to be passionate about. It's obvious that I've lost my courage to raise my voice.
There is a fine line between being tolerant - allowing other people to use their voices- and letting people take advantage of your silence.
So I give you the same challenge that Barbie has given me (and you if you watched the video). Raise your voice for something. Raise your hand and fight for something you believe in. Even if it's a small thing, even if the farthest it reaches is your ceiling and nothing more, let your voice be out, ring free and true. Even if it's about a book or a movie or anything at all, talk about it, don't let your silence be taken over by somebody else.
You deserve to be heard.
So what am I going to raise my voice for?
I have a few things in mind. Keep reading if you want to read about them.
1. Wildlife SOS
Meet Suraj.
See his ear? That's right, he doesn't have one. Suraj lives in India and for decades lived in captivity in a cramped space of a room on temple grounds. During that time, his ear was ripped off. He lived there without anyone to care him and was shown no sympathy or love. He was hardly ever allowed to leave his room and when he did he walked with a terrible limp. He was isolated, abused, and uncared for.
Meet Rose
See her leg? That's right she doesn't have one. Rose is an orphaned sloth bear, found in an Indian village missing a leg. She would use her muzzle to walk and her gait became unnatural. No one knows what happened to her leg. She is just a cub.
Meet Bhalu
Even though it is illegal in India; sloth bears are used as entertainment to get money. It is a cruel and vile treatment. Bhalu was a victim of becoming a 'dancing bear.' With a rope pierced through his muzzle, Bhalu lived the first years of his life captive, abused, underfed and beaten. He passed away August 2015.
These animals don't even begin to scratch the list of abused, forgotten and unloved creatures on our planet, in India even. Each were mistreated by the hand of our species and then ignored to focus on better things. If it hadn't been for the nonprofit foundation Wildlife SOS, Suraj, Rose, and Bhalu would have had shorter lives than they have or had been given.
Suraj was rescued from the temple in December of 2015. Though there are long term affects of his abuse, Suraj is starting to warm up to and interact with the other rescued elephants (called the Herd of Hope). Rose's leg has been treated and she is starting to learn how to walk without using her muzzle and has been fed and loved. Bhalu was rescued in 2005 and lived ten full long years as the bear he should have been from the beginning, though he too bore scars from his wicked past just as Suraj will. With Wildlife SOS, these animals were given a second chance at life, a second chance to hope.
I'm raising my voice for people to be aware that we are not the most important thing in this world. We are not the king of this planet. We are not even closed to being called its caretakers. We are its abuser, its needy child, we take and we take and we don't give back. We never give back. I'm raising my voice for Suraj, for Rose and for the memory of Bhalu. Though they are miles away from us, though I will never see them in person, I want you to know that you're knowledge your awareness will make the difference. This world isn't just ours, its theirs too. It belongs to them. They are the earth's children and they need our love.
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| Co-founder Geeta Seshamani |
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| Co-founder Kartick Satyanarayan |
2. Bullying
It's an obvious topic to bring up. It's been beaten dead by so many people. It's been preached to the choir a thousand times. It's been pounded an practically every pulpit. It's something every child learns and what every adult knows. Yet I still see the painful consequences of bullying.
Bullying is not okay. Ignoring someone, verbally assaulting someone, or physcially harming someone is not okay. Gossiping is not okay. Black mail, cyber bullying and complete negligence is not okay.
Every child is born with a fresh set of eyes, a full beating heart, and pure mind. I know for me that the first thing to dim my eyes, clench my heart and taint my mind was because I had been bullied. I was one of the lucky kids though, I wasn't bullied much as a kid. Sure I got called four-eyes, fat, and stupid for not catching a ball. But it's nothing compared to the disgusting things other kids my age had to face; and it seemed like once it started, that child had to face it year after year no matter how kind puberty was to them, no matter how hard they tried to change, no matter what they did to stop the bullying, they remained the victim of the classroom's bullies and they remained the loser. I recall a handful of kids my age that got stuck in that rut, they were never given the opportunity to prove that they could be better because everyone (I sometimes even feel as if the teachers too) believed that they were too far gone.
No one is ever too far gone. Too far beyond our comprehension. Too broken to love.
It isn't fair that we grind down our own peers self esteem down simply so that we can build a reputation for ourselves. It isn't fair that some children feel so alienated that they feel the only solution to the pain is self harm, substance abuse, or even suicide. It isn't fair that I was tempted to starve myself and have my mind plagued with abusive thoughts because I got called fat and ugly. It isn't right that I had to suppress who I was to protect myself from the black gossip people would spread.
I raise my voice for every kid, past present and those yet to come. I raise my voice to you. You have a friend in me. I don't know you. I don't know if I ever will meet you. But I believe in you. I believe in the power that you hold inside your pure mind, your new eyes, and your beating heart. I know that life is hard, that life is unfair, that it tears you down and shreds you into tiny fragments. But I know that you have the power inside of you to put those fragment back together. I know you have the potential to do great things. People will talk, people will stare. It's inevitable. Don't let that stop you from raising your own voice though. You never know who will be watching that might just want to befriend. You are not too far gone, you are not too broken. You are great, and you are powerful.
3. Artists and Creators.
I raise my voice to you. To the outcasts who spent their high school days in the back hallways with a notebook and pencil sketching the world only visible to you. To the ones who sang from their heart behind locked doors. And to the ones who weaved their words on paper and on screen, building characters and worlds. I raise my voice to the creators, to the out-of-the-box-thinkers.
I know that there are so many people so many people who have a creative part inside themselves. And I know that more than half of those people are too scared to share their talent.
Where does this fear come from? Please refer to subject number two. When we get bullied at a young age, we hide a lot about ourselves to protect us from any risk of getting hurt. I know I did. As soon as someone called my drawings monkeys with long necks I never showed my art to anyone ever again.
If there is anything that I have learned about creativity though, is that no facet of creativity is wrong. There is nothing wrong with splatters of paint. There is nothing wrong with color outside the lines. There is nothing wrong with a blurred photo. There is nothing wrong with a short story. There is nothing wrong with your creativity.
Pursue your creativity. Cultivate the talents that you have and the talents that you want. It is never, ever too late to start creating. I'm only 19, but I still believe that the sketches I have, the stories I've written are worthy of someone and that with work, I know they will get better.
I raise my voice to say that no matter what skill you are at, you are an artist to me. You're stories, your photos, your songs, your inner colorful world, it inspires me. Your art is how you raise your voice. It is how you rant, it is how you vent and express your emotions. It is how you put your heart out to the world. Don't stifle it. Don't wilt it. Don't doubt it.
Do you think Barbie is a bad influence now? Do you truly think that that video taught kids to be skinny or pink or anything?
It certainly didn't do that to me. It taught me to stand up for what I believe in.
Now it's your turn.
What would you raise your voice for?
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| Thanks Barbie! |
