How Others See Us

Over the weekend, I stumbled upon this video on how Koreans of different ages and life circumstances react to meeting a fellow Korean lady who has vitiligo - for all the insight this offers into the ways in which we humans see ourselves and others, I feel it's worth viewing.

I noticed that some in the comments section under this video at YouTube were critical of the older Korean lady who said that if her son wanted to marry someone with vitiligo, as a mother, she wouldn't be able to accept that someone as a daughter-in-law, as the realities of life are such that one has to consider genetics as well as having to live with others whispering about one's appearances and such.

I'm thankful that this older lady was courageous enough to honestly express her views on camera, as in my experience, her mindset in "assessing" a fellow human partly by looks isn't atypical, especially within cultures where outward appearances can significantly impact the course of people's lives.

Those who are relatively new to our readership may not know that I began developing vitiligo when I was about 19 years old, and today, I have little pigmentation left on my face and body. Being 50 years of age and a dad to two teenagers, I'm thankful that I've arrived at a place where I'm genuinely grateful for this part of my destiny, as it's allowed me to more deeply appreciate the love of people like the other Koreans in the video above who showed much heartwarming kindness to the young lady with vitiligo.

As with all parts of the human experience, it's the deep, rock-bottom territory of great despair and struggle that we absolutely need to go through in order to more fully appreciate the highest levels of love and beauty in our world. My heart bleeds and roots for the young lady in this video, but I trust she is in the process of discovering that, as Mike Tyson once said, there is no testimony without a great test.

Sending love to all,

Ben