I don't smoke and I've never smoked.
I don't drink alcohol or coffee, and I'm giving up drinking tee too. I don't take pills or drugs. I'm a Vegan. I'm a conscious and critical consumer. I recycle, I reuse, I reduce. But I love tattoos and piercings and I have them.
I don't drink alcohol or coffee, and I'm giving up drinking tee too. I don't take pills or drugs. I'm a Vegan. I'm a conscious and critical consumer. I recycle, I reuse, I reduce. But I love tattoos and piercings and I have them.
What? What I am talking about?
[Two-faced graffiti on the streetBerlin, Kreuzberg]
In my teens and in my twenties, I looked like a punk and I was very 'strange'. My hair was purple or red or whatever. My clothes were purple or black. My make-up was very dark. I was very dark.
At the beginning, the mental equation for most people was then: "She's a little weird, she's not like everybody else = she's stupid". People were always surprised because I'm not stupid.
I don't wear make-up anymore and my hair is natural-colored now. I still wear purple. I still have tattoos. I still have piercings. I'm still a little bit 'different' and this is absolutely not a problem for me. But nobody believes me when I say that I don't smoke or that I don't drink.
Now they think: "She has tattoos, she has piercings, she is a rebel = obviously she smokes and probably she drinks a lot".
I've never loved labels.
I wasn't exactly a punk girl. I wasn't exactly a goth girl. I wasn't exactly a straight-edge person.
Today I'm not exactly a rebel or, to put it better, not in the way people think about it.
I don't think that smoking or drinking are indispensable qualities for every 'rebel by the book'. I don't need to drink to be a rebel. I don't need to smoke to be a rebel.
In fact, I think for example that smoking is not an act of rebellion. It's something really mainstream, indeed: most people actually smoke, and when you smoke you're not only poisoning and destroying your own body by paying for doing that but you're also giving your money to corporations. You're part of a very big system. I don't see any rebellion here.
But why is it so difficult to believe that a person can be 'a rebel' without being like a thousand of novels and movies say a 'rebel' should be? Everything has two faces.
Update: Take a look at this Puzzling street art from Berlin. I think the street artist portrayed in the article is the same who made the graffiti of my photo. Do you agree with me?
At the beginning, the mental equation for most people was then: "She's a little weird, she's not like everybody else = she's stupid". People were always surprised because I'm not stupid.
I don't wear make-up anymore and my hair is natural-colored now. I still wear purple. I still have tattoos. I still have piercings. I'm still a little bit 'different' and this is absolutely not a problem for me. But nobody believes me when I say that I don't smoke or that I don't drink.
Now they think: "She has tattoos, she has piercings, she is a rebel = obviously she smokes and probably she drinks a lot".
I've never loved labels.
I wasn't exactly a punk girl. I wasn't exactly a goth girl. I wasn't exactly a straight-edge person.
Today I'm not exactly a rebel or, to put it better, not in the way people think about it.
I don't think that smoking or drinking are indispensable qualities for every 'rebel by the book'. I don't need to drink to be a rebel. I don't need to smoke to be a rebel.
In fact, I think for example that smoking is not an act of rebellion. It's something really mainstream, indeed: most people actually smoke, and when you smoke you're not only poisoning and destroying your own body by paying for doing that but you're also giving your money to corporations. You're part of a very big system. I don't see any rebellion here.
But why is it so difficult to believe that a person can be 'a rebel' without being like a thousand of novels and movies say a 'rebel' should be? Everything has two faces.
Update: Take a look at this Puzzling street art from Berlin. I think the street artist portrayed in the article is the same who made the graffiti of my photo. Do you agree with me?
Tags: Smoking, Drinking, Tattoos, Prejudices, Rebellion, Lifestyle choices, Graffiti, Self-awareness
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