Under the same sky, there are two babies born in drastically different place. One is the first-born of newlyweds with stable jobs that give generous pay. They live in a sturdy house in an affluent neighborhood, surrounded by acclaimed schools, protected by a police force. And in a country where the infant will have the liberty to express themselves freely, practice the religion of their choice and marry whomever they choose.
The other newborn already has seven older siblings, all of whom were never able to get past an elementary school education due to the immense amount of farm work needed to provide the family with a meager amount of money to pay for food and other expenses. The infant will grow up in a village where a strict religion is practiced with conservative views, and marriage is decided on by the adults.
Under the same sky, there are two children, one boy and one girl. The boy will be criticized for playing with dolls. Having an interest in fashion will make others point fingers at him and label him as gay, when sexuality and fashion do not correlate with each other. The girl on the other hand will not be mocked for "tomboy tendencies;" however, if this behavior continues to her adult years, people will assume she's lesbian. While same-sex marriage has been granted in the United States, gender roles are still prominent enough for people to continue labeling people with stereotypes that describe such a small percentage of the people involved, assuming correlations between actions when in reality there are none, and finding ways to preserve what they consider "normal." The support for minority groups seems to have increased, but society still seems to have a long way to go to truly include everyone in the definition for "normal."
Under the same sky, two male teens are said to have committed a crime. One male is a family guy, has a loving partner and a child he adores. He juggles many jobs to support his family in a struggling neighborhood. One day, he is pulled over by a cop. The cop looking at the man's skin, uses bias to justify illegal searches and succumbs to the fears of racist views and uses violence against the innocent man. The innocent man is killed; but in the news, it isn't the police officer's criminal photo they display. The front page headlines show an unjust photo that makes readers assume the innocent man is a criminal. No one will ever hear his story as a family man, instead he will be another statistic that others will use to bring prejudice against a group of people. The other male comes from a privileged family. In the media, he will be portrayed as a promising student with photos of his achievements. Although he has actually committed a crime, he is let out on a minimum sentence.
Under the same sky, two college graduates are applying for jobs. Both graduates get stable jobs, but the male graduate will always have a higher salary even though the two applied for and got jobs at the same time. The woman will get married and have children. She will be allowed a maternity leave, but she will not be paid. Employers justify this gap in salary because men are the breadwinners. They have to be paid more to provide for the family. Women are still assumed to be the main caretakers of their children. Because of this assumed role, women are not paid equitably because this duty supposedly interferes with their work. It is assumed that their husbands will bring in the rest of the income needed to provide for their family.
Under the same sky, people are struggling in their own ways. While some struggles are more recognized than others, everyone has their own issues. With advancements in technology, there are two types of people. Those who want to inform and those who choose to take action. Even in the two types, there are even more groups. Some people choose to have peaceful protests, while some decide that in order to get their views known and accepted they must infringe on the safety and privacy of others. I wonder if there will be a time, when all struggles will be acknowledged and there will be peace between everyone.
