We are all the same

When I was young, I was in awe of people like the Queen and other famous people. I thought they were untouchables, fairy tale like creatures that were so far removed from where I came from that I could never be what they were. I thought these people were made of magic and there was no way that they lived everyday ordinary lives like me. I thought it was impossible for me to ever aspire to be of their ilk.

Until one day I was talking to my mother about them and she told me that they go to the bathroom and they have to do the same things like bath, brush their teeth and all the mundane stuff that I have to do on a daily basis. I was shocked, appalled really that these people had to pee just like I do. And it took a bit of the magic out of my life for a while. Then one day it hit me like a bolt iof lightning if these people have to attend to the same daily routines as I do, then what made them so much more special than me?  I also had an epiphany their lifestyles, accomplishments and abundance was not out of reach for me or any ordinary person like me.

Perhaps I can never become the Queen of England because I was not born into that blood but I could become famous, I could become anything that I wanted to be because there is nothing that makes those people any different from me except for what they have achieved. And it was from this day forth that I realised there is no real separation from me and  the homeless person on the street, the successful writer, the President of the United States, or any famous person because we are all alike at the end of the day.

I was reminded of this epiphany last night when my book club was discussing the book, The Help. The author, Kathryn Stockett, knew the book would be controversial and viewed by many differently but she wrote it, “For women to realise, we are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I’d thought.”

Although in this case, Ms. Stockett  is talking about the separation between black women and white women, this statement applies to all of us. From a very young age I realised  there is not much that separates us from any other person because we are all living, breathing human beings on this journey called life so why waste time with hatred, snobbery, and bigotry when at the end of the day we are all the same.