Anonymity. The state of being anonymous. Something that I have tried doing desperately and have failed at miserably. No one ever remains anonymous; not even in a city as big as Cairo.. scratch that, especially not in a city as big as Cairo.
Well over 6 million people in this city yet you can’t meet someone who hasn’t heard of you or the things that you’ve done. The irony of it all is that you’re constantly being dragged into the past every time you meet someone new. People hate you without even being familiar with anything but your name, and people who don’t know you at all talk about you like they do. It’s exhausting keeping up with the constant drama, stress and backstabbing but I think I’ve found an easy way out.
You can’t pack up your bags and leave to start over and you certainly can’t stop making mistakes, so what can you do about it? Well, you can say, “hey, that’s who I was not who I am, yeah I’ve made mistakes and done some stuff that I’m not proud of but so has everyone else. Take a chance to get to know me and then judge for yourself.” I know it doesn’t sound like much of a solution because “who’s going to listen to me?” The people who are worth knowing, that’s who, and if people think you’re odd for taking a stand and refusing to let them get the wrong impression about you then they are people who are not worth your effort or time.
“But if they don’t know me and they’re talking about me, aren’t they already not worth my time?” Not necessarily. You’ve probably gossiped about someone you don’t know (or someone you do know) before, does that make you a bad person? No. It makes you human. Judge people by who they are, not what they’ve done.
Always remember that change starts with you. If you hear something about someone, take the time to get to know them. Don’t make a rash judgment based on what someone else has told you. More importantly, don’t be the person spreading the gossip. Words travel faster than the speed of light. Leave people’s past (it’s still in the past even if it was yesterday) in their past. Let people remain anonymous so that when introduced to new acquaintances, they can all judge each other based on personality and not scandals.
“You did a terrible thing. It doesn’t mean you’re a terrible person.”
– Grey’s Anatomy
(Yes, I’m quoting Grey’s Anatomy.)