Keianna

All feelings are fleeting. I wish I would have been told that when I was smaller. I wish the idea of happiness was presented to me just as all other feelings were. Instead I, along with my peers, was taught that happiness is an internal warm that couldn’t be shut off once achieved. We were taught that tears were a sign of weakness. We were taught that you don’t deserve to be taken seriously if you show emotion.

It’s obvious that this was something instilled in our parents, and the generations before them. They think it’s OK to scold children for showing emotions other than happiness. I wish they were understanding enough to let someone explain to them that children who don’t know how to show emotion turn into adults who don’t know how to show emotion. This is harmful in so many ways. The first being that if we feel anything other than that internal warmth we think we are broken. The second, that we see peers who do show emotion or speak out against wrongdoing as weak, which leads to victim blaming. Also, people who are going through something are afraid to get help because they don’t want to be perceived as bad or broken.

I wish I would have been taught that happiness is not a realistic life goal but just another feeling. ♦