"With such beautiful tattoos, I understand that it is a pity to hide them with those stockings" the doctor said today in the morning, while visiting me because of a terrible pain on my feet that it's making it impossible for me to walk, and referring to special stockings that can be needed in such cases.
He wants to be nice, and he probably thinks that his words are friendly and charming. And maybe even a little bit flirty, in a fun way.
So I keep my cool, look at him with a firm smile and reply: "Well, this is not about my tattoos, it is about me not being able to walk because of the pain. I just want the pain in my feet to stop".
After the medication, I go home with a huge white bandage that covers half of a leg and a foot. As I can walk without pain, for the first time in three days, I really don't care about the people staring at me.
[Zombie Boy posing as a polarizer that draws
so much attention while traveling on the subway
and minding his own business, 2016
It feels so familiar to me...]
Today they do that even more, and they have the "excuse" of the bandage. Some smile, some look perplexed, some seem to be dying for asking some questions. I just want to go home and take care of my feet.
While hearing about the unexpected death of Canadian model and actor Rick Genest, better known as Zombie Boy or Rico the Zombie, found dead two days ago in Montréal at the age of 32 after (apparently) committing suicide, I have to think again about what happened this morning.
Would have the doctor say something like this, if I would not have been fully tattooed?
Under other circumstances, would these words be considered inappropriate?
Still, when you look different, you get used to being treated in a different way. No doubt about that, it doesn't matter what political correctness wants to convey about this.
[Behind the scenes in black and white,
from the music video Born This Way,
posted by Lady Gaga on Twitter
as a tribute to Zombie Boy]
The question is not if you are going to be treated like "everybody else". It is way more how you are going to react, while not being treated like "everybody else". And how you are going to either own the situation or get owned.
Zombie Boy, also famous for his appearance in Lady Gaga's video Born This Way, learned how to own the situation and embodied diversity in a very personal and blatant way, above all with irony, humor and proud, showing strength and a huge portion of self-awareness:
I didn't do this because I wanted to be different
I did this, because I wanted to be myself
Zombie Boy
These words welcome the visitors to his official website and I couldn't agree more, since they reflect my way of life as well.
Zombie Boy's death took the Internet by storm and has been a great shock to many people, myself included. Stay tuned for Part II of this post.
Tags: Zombie Boy, Rick Genest, Diversity, Being a polarizer, Quotes, Embodying diversity
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