You did not choose your name, not the first one, that one was given to you. You did not choose your country of birth or the soil that you were taught to call home.

You did not choose your face, the weird wrinkle that defines you. You didn’t choose your skin tone, nor whatever other people will think about it.

You didn’t choose your mother tongue. You didn’t choose the way you speak, your vocal cords, your unconscious cadence. You can always choose to fake it, and people will choose for themselves whether to trust what you say. So, do you really want to fake it?

You cannot appease everybody. You cannot please everybody. But maybe you could choose how to react the next time you face somebody that irks you, somebody who rubs you the wrong way.

Maybe you can learn their language and visit their country. Better yet, you can actively try to talk to people that don’t share your same values. Ask them to explain themselves. If they don’t make sense, ask them to explain further, like a five year old would need.

Maybe you can learn to avoid judging them on the basis of all they didn’t choose, just as it feels unfair to you to get judged because of such things.

What will you choose?