Unexpected Reaction

An Interesting Thing Happened to Me

Inspired by an article I read about the U.S. Armed Forces allowing religious accommodations regarding headwear, long hair, and facial hair, I created an image of six people—three men and three women—wearing the dress uniforms of the six different branches of the military. They represented different cultural backgrounds, and I incorporated headwear, shawls, and religious or cultural symbols into their respective uniforms.

I posted the image on a well-known art website. (I am omitting the name of the website.)

When I logged onto the website, I received the usual notifications that people had added my images to their Favorites. However, one message and comment stood out because it was quite negative. I didn't read the entire message because, from the beginning, I could tell it was only going downhill from there. I simply deleted the message and comment and blocked the person.

I never cease to be amazed that, in a supposedly open-minded world, people can still be so narrow-minded and get bent out of shape over things that irritate or offend them.

The image is still posted, and it is also the image I chose to accompany this essay. I am proud of what I created.

That reaction taught me two things:

One: Humanity still has a long way to go before we can genuinely become accepting and open-minded.

Two: Not everyone is going to like everything I write or create artistically. You simply can't please everyone.

I suppose that is just the way of the world.