Something I have thought about, over much of my adult life, is how terrible it is that some people categorize others and then mistreat or prejudge them, applying different standards based on _whatever_. Recently, however, I have been trying to think past this.

First of all, one shouldn't be limited or hurt by this since we really shouldn't be listening to the hateful opinions of other people. However, sometimes they infiltrate powerful institutions and then corrupt them with their hatred, which then becomes something one can't so easily avoid.

While this is still something one can oppose where possible, I went looking for a way to turn this mistreatment into a source of empowerment. Then, a phrase came to my mind, which has nothing to do with this situation but did change the direction of my thoughts: "You're gonna carry that weight."

Now, I am not referring to carrying the pain of memory or the weight of eternal recurrence, or anything like that. Instead, this set my mind onto a track where I remembered that old Christian expression, as derived from Corinthians (as far as I can tell), about how God knows what you can bear and will give you the means, or something to that effect.

So, one could read hope out of that along the lines of "your body was destined to be so treated and so a strong enough soul was found as could bear it", if you wanted to see it from a non-Christian but still supernatural perspective.

Of course, me sharing none of these traditions, decided to see it as something a little more circular. You live in a world which treats you thusly, and has for some time, so those of your kin have grown the strength to bear it. Perhaps skin is not the only part of us which grows callouses when worn.

In light of any of these, it then becomes a matter of how to view the circumstances and how to proceed. Now, I do not believe that one should be silent in the face of such mistreatment, but to object with an unshakable composure, knowing that the first objection will change nothing, then bear the treatment as you must. Of course, one must find a way to object to the treatment such that your humanity is observed (let us not forget the teachings of Gandhi), while still showing our ability to bear it.

So, if you must mistreat me, I will object. Then, I will allow that wave to crash upon me and leave me still an unbroken rock on the shore with the other good and understanding people.

After all, on a certain level, I feel as though I can bear it,
...Nights