I was at Victoria's Secret the other day when I heard a saleswoman tell a customer to "come check out our new one-size-fits-all thong."
*blink*
It took quite a bit of restraint to keep me from doing a one-eighty to see what sort of miracle garment this must be. I hope the customer didn't fall for it, though she timidly trailed the saleslady out of the part of the store I was standing in.
From a retail perspective, I understand how a one-size-fits-all society would be easier to serve. If everyone wanted a pink, padded push-up and a pink thong in the same size, there would be no need to stress about surplus stock when the lime-green-purple-polka-dot-with-blue-lace-trim underpants never catch on with the size 4 crowd.
What I really wonder is why the rest of us want so badly to be one-size-fits-all. I get that on the surface most of us would say we don't and rattle off a list of our lovable differences... but on some fundamental level a lot of us do. In a country and a world where we are often directly or indirectly told how to think, act and look, many of us shun or strive to change those parts of us that aren't in line with the rest.
This is despite the fact history will show us that many of the greatest and most influential people were often considered, well... very odd. Some of them weren't good students. A lot of them didn't have perfect physiques. Many struggled with anxiety, depression or hyper-activity. A number held a view of the world different than those around them. More than we realize were deemed failures before they were recognized for whatever extraordinary success we remember them for.
Einstein, Mozart, Jefferson, Lincoln, Bill Gates, Angelina Jolie, Stephen King... These are all individuals with extraordinary accomplishments in their respective lives and fields, yet even they--perhaps especially they--did not or do not conform to the one-size-should-fit-all views constantly pushed on us as a society.
I had a family member years ago that was always very down on me. She wanted me to be less "sensitive" to the world around me, less aware. I understand that this was her way of wishing to protect me from the pain that sensitivity and awareness can cause. The problem was, the person she wanted me to be simply wasn't me. We both tried--because I had much love and respect for her--to make me that person, but it shouldn't be surprising that ultimately we failed. Ironically, those same traits she worried would only burden me have also become some of my greatest strengths.
Equality is about how we treat people. It was never meant to turn us into mirror images of each other. Our diversity as a nation is our strength. We do it better than most countries...despite the squabbles and tension, despite the dismay the Victoria's Secret customer may have felt when the one-size-fits-all thong didn't fit her (honey, it doesn't fit anyone). We do it because some occasions and people simply call for lime-green-purple-polka-dot-with-blue-lace-trim underpants.
Thank heavens, though, and God bless America, right? Because life is simply much more interesting with those people among us.
