Looking Different

I have never in my life experienced being looked at weird, being looked down on because of a first impression, or scoffed at behind my back until I dyed my hair recently. My goodness how things change when you look "abnormal"! I know that I did this to myself, dyed hair, tattoos, piercings, these are all things people do to themselves to make them stand out, express themselves, show their nature, ect. I LOVE my colorful hair, but it does make others look twice, assume that they know about me before meeting or speaking to me, or that I'm a crazy teen (since no one thinks I am as old as I really am).

I went into a feed store with Jaron on my birthday and was excited that they had a different type of Calm Coat, that was a shampoo- I like to use regular Calm Coat with Wietske when I can find it, so I took the shampoo up to the counter to ask if they had regular. The lady looked at me all sorts of funny. "No, that is all they have" and the look that came with it was "like you would know what to do with it if we did have it..."  That lady saw a young woman with pink and blue and purple colors in her hair, she didn't see the person who has raised and shown horses for 12 years, who has taken care of all sorts of farm animals, and how knows a heck of a lot about Calm Coat and all sorts of other skin treatments from dealing with an allergy prone Frisian mare. She assumed I was interested in that for my colorful self.... obviously no one ever told her that people with different colored hair can know about farm things too. 

Every day that I go around with my colorful locks and get the questions and weird looks I get the assurance from knowing that I did my hair color and I could cut it off and go back to being that normal girl at any time I want. What about the people that get looked at for things that they can't chance about themselves? What about that person with misshapen facial features? Or the girl with the crutch and braces? They have to wake up every morning knowing that the things that people look at them for and judge them about can never be changed. They can't just cut off their brightly dyed hair and blend back into the crowd, they are forever put on the stage of life, to be paraded in front of others that will stare and comment on their differences.

Let's choose not to be the lady at the feed store that makes assumptions about people because they don't look like they should belong. I think the world would be a much more interesting place if that heavily tattooed baby lover was allowed to work in the nursery at church, loving on those tiny bundles of joy. If that kid that has the speech impediment is voted class president because he really knows what he's talking about, even if it sounds different than the guy who has the perfect speech written out.

I plan on keeping my crazy beautiful hair, if only to keep me remembering what it feels like to be singled out for being different. I hope it lets me be more caring and less judgmental of others that I see every day.