Vegetarians, redheads, and lefties

Change is constant, or so we are told. First uttered by Heracticlus, the Greek philosopher 2,500 years ago, it has been parodied through history by such diverse entities as Mother Teresa, Mahatma Ghandi, Albert Einstein, Malala Yousafzai, and Queen Elizabeth II, to name just a few.

A sobering reality too, is the fear of change. We like routine, and become comfortable in our ‘place,’ the unique little ways we do things, which make us feel like we are in control of our lives, and we don’t like to change. Our fear of change, our anxiety in the face of change can even become phobic.

Metathesiophobics are unable to rationalise, therefore accept change, and can suffer from depression. Seriously, there are many among us who would feel that way, maybe not to the full extent of a clinical diagnosis, but think about it, changing your hairdresser, your brand of coffee, your daily routine... you resist them all don’t you?

Change then, is the process by which things change, or evolve, or how things become different, and being different is the place we end up at.

Difference has been a fact for as long as man has walked the Earth, and has most of that time been celebrated, as we have been either bigger, faster, stronger, or better. We’ve not been quite so celebratory, or understanding however, of our differences in colour, in appearance, in faith or belief, in language, in culture, in prosperity and wealth.

We have sought, so unkindly, to establish superiority by perpetuating difference as being wrong. What if being ‘different’ is not a consequence of change, evolution, mutation, adjustment, innovation, metamorphosis, refinement, conversion, transition, modification, transformation, or adversity, and is simply... diversity?

I’m not talking about vegetarian difference... they are a special group that simply must tell you they are... every time you meet (meat maybe?), and how they can’t understand how we want to eat meat, and how there are never enough veg options, pointing to the meat, and making sarcastic comments. In their own way remarkably, if humorously, intolerant. I refer to my bumper sticker... ‘Save cows. Eat vegetarians.’ But seriously...

Albinism has always historically, especially on the African continent, been associated with witchcraft, as frequently reported by the respected BBC News Service, with a Nigerian study (Magna, 2014), finding that “they experienced alienation, avoided social interactions and were less emotionally stable. Furthermore, affected individuals were less likely to complete schooling, find employment, and find partners.” Strangely enough, they all have ten fingers, and ten toes.

During the Middle Ages it was dangerous to also have red hair, as they were sacrificed at the ancient Egyptian’s altars, were persecuted during the Spanish Inquisition, and in literature, Dicken’s ‘Fagan,’ and Shakespeare’s ‘Shylock’ cast as villainous redheads.

Not since Maureen O’Hara in fact, has a redhead caught common favour until Ed Sheeran came along. It is genetically possible among all ethnicities, yet less than 2 per cent of us do, although if you are Scottish, that figure rises dramatically to around 13 per cent. Though most have ten fingers and ten toes, in an ironic twist, redheads are genetically predisposed towards left-handedness.

There was a time too, when being left-handed was considered almost satanic, and during the European Middle Ages the young scholars in wealthy families would have their left hands, with five fingers, tied behind their backs, forcing them to use their right hands with a similar five fingers. In fact, as recent a monarch as King George VI (1895-1952) was so ‘adjusted.’ Further evidence of the ‘wrongness’ of left-handedness was in quill and nib pen writing from the left to the right, where the pen will simply not run, although of course, the reverse applied to writers of Arabic.

Oh, how fickle we all are, responding adversely to skin colour and hair colour. Heaven help us should our religion or our beliefs, which can’t be seen, should offend anyone. Or what if... where one’s heart or conscience leads them should draw the ire of their societies? Diversity today has so many connotations today of mistrust, fear, and anxiety, and their consequent effects upon those on both sides of the imaginary ‘fence.’ Love and affection, for many, are elusive, hard to find, and for some, harder to sustain. “Where are you from?” It rarely matters! Who you are, what you are, and what you do... do!