Of my parents, my mother and I have far more disagreements than my father and I do. Part of it stems from the fact that the circles of what she finds humorous, and what I laugh at (and why I'm going to hell) do not intersect most of the time. But we are family and we love each other, but there's always that rebellious teen angst you have towards your parents when they tell you you can't do something so you do it, or the other extreme -- they tell you to do something and you say you can't.
A little while ago, my mother and I were having an argument about women's representation in Hollywood because I had said that movies lead strictly by women typically did not do as well at the box office. She argued, and I pointed out that movies, regardless of how she feels about them or their plots, if they are led by male casts, tend to do better at the box office. She got pretty upset with me for listing off movie after movie and it finally culminated in her just glaring at me and said "Well then why don't you change it?" And, as one does with their parents, I blew off her comment said that I couldn't change the world, and then I left. And then it fully hit me:
I just told my mom that I could not change the world.
I essentially just resigned myself to any chance of making the world better or making a difference in the world around me, out of some unconscious need to go against what my parents tell me to do. And what also hit me was I also was just allowing the world to stay in its own racist, sexist, bigoted, close minded, unchanging way that it has always been, and I was fine with this? I was OK with the fact that I thought I couldn't change anything?
Well, screw that. Just to spite my mother, I'm going to try and change the world. Yes, this is so much easier said than done, but damnit why can't it be done?
Now, I'm not going to dust off a soapbox any taller than the one I am currently resting on, but we can change the world! We can make it better! We can stop being hateful to people who are different than us. We can make Hollywood be more exclusive. Have women lead more movies. Have minorities make the passion projects they have and not need to cast a big name white actor to have it be made (Miles Ahead). Come up with something original and stop recycling the same shit all the time. Have women stop walking the streets in fear. Have African American's stop living in fear in parts of the world. Have us stop thinking everyone who is Middle Eastern is a terrorist. Take Fox News off the air! We can change the world, all we need to do is stop fighting and actually learn to get along, we just might be able to make living on this messed up planet we call home. No, I'm not just going to blatantly say "Live together, die alone" in this article. Lost did that enough.
We all have all been told we can't do something. Join me in spiting my mom to make a difference.
*Steps off soapbox*
