Art is and always has been a reflection of the real world. It is, without a doubt, the reflection of the individual creator’s mind in that specific period of time. A reflection of the doubts, the tribulations, the struggles and the necessity of that time, alongside also representing the things that give value and meaning to the life of that time. 

Lately, as I explore and study a lot of the media that comes out, I have seen a pattern in films that results almost funny to me in how much different people can have similar thoughts. The topic that has been repeated over and over is that of this wall, this barrier between people and the unknown. The unwillingness to accept that which is different and unknown. It is always reflected differently among media. For some, it might be the idea of differences in culture, for others, religion, and to others their sexuality. 

I grew up in a very fortunate environment. I was never rich, but a meal was never missing from my table. I was raised in a loving environment, protected by those who loved me, and raised under a faith that guided me, yet always reminded that, no matter my path in life, they would always be there for me. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a good childhood, one which allowed me to discover who I was as I grew, until today I’m comfortable with who I am. Yet I know and recognize that a lot of people never truly had that choice. A lot of childhoods were filled with turmoil, never knowing when the next meal might come. Others had to hide their feelings, their voices never to be heard because of the fear of pain or rejection, be it a person hiding inside the closet, or somebody who holds a different belief from their parents or guardians. And through these pains and tribulations, they started building walls to keep everyone out, only allowing in those who they claim are worth their time or those who have suffered as they have suffered, creating different but still real hate. 

It’s a vicious cycle really, and the worse part, no particular person is to blame. 

Yes, there are evil people in the world. Yes, some get blinded by faith, or discipline, or fear. Yes, some have held pain before in their hearts and now they release it onto someone who never deserved the pain and hate, they were just the unfortunate. And yes, goverments try their hardest to keep us weak and divided will maintaining a fake posture that we should all be treated equally when that wouldn’t benifit their status quo.

Life isn’t fair, for anyone. That’s why we hide, blinding ourselves to the fact that somewhere along the way, in the search to better ourselves, we become just as bad as those who came before us, those who inflicted so much hate, so much pain, so much doubt. Not as a mirror, but more so the opposite side of the coin. Where once there was hate against others for being different, for believing differently, for looking different, now we only allow people who look different and try to get rid of anyone who looked like those who hurt them before.

No pain is justified, but that includes causing pain to those who hurt us, cause in the end, hate will only lead to suffering, walls will keep us divided, and words will have no meaning. Then, when the true enemy comes against us (be it war, poverty, goverment or whatever else), the question would transform from if we’d lose and become how fast. 

And don’t get me wrong either, it’s fine to not accept everything. It’s fine if you don’t accept one person’s reality as your own. What I’m saying is that we cannot be angry at them for being different. It is our right as human beings to simply be who we are, wheter others approved or not. All of this within reasonable right, of course. It’s one thing to be tolerant, and a whole other to be a mat and allow yourself to be stepped over by others. Not every person has good intentions.

This post some people will like, others will definitely disagree, and that is their right. I’m just an outsider looking in at the walls that have been built around a world that I grew up in, yet away from. And now that I’m here, I wonder when it all went wrong?

Perhaps there is still time, perhaps people are unwilling to change on both sides. It matters little honestly, I’ll just keep doing my part. Trying to learn and understand the bricks that make those walls that continue to endlessly divide us.