I’ve always found it difficult to ‘identify’ by my political beliefs, as the older I get, the more my beliefs get jumbled, ideas mixed up, and the labels I once wore, no longer seem to stick. I want a bit of this, and a bit of that. I want ‘both’ not ‘either’. I want to transform, combine and challenge the ideas of others – to meet with my foes, and fight with my friends. I want a constantly evolving and tailored set of beliefs, not an off-the-rack set of catch phrases. To meet in the middle and to embrace uncertainty. I want the freedom to be wrong, without the upheaval of everything else that I’ve done right. No. I cannot hit a home run with every swing, nobody can - I just want to leave the conversation better than I found it. I want to be defined and judged for who I am and what I’ve done; not by others who look like me. Not as a feminist, an MRA or egalitarian, as left, or right, liberal or conservative. The label I want is ‘George’. And I wish more people would do the same. To identify as ourselves, not as others or as groups. So what do you call yourself? ~ Images by Kendrick Fernandez, Fleur-E and Adam Wilson from Unsplash

2022-05-09