Being dark is simply amazing, do you know that?

Being dark is simply amazing, do you know that?

I have a dear friend who is beautifully dark skinned and oftentimes she is really worried about getting too much tainted due to the waves of sun currently hitting Kathmandu.

While most of the people around me complain about the heat (by the way we are not living in Delhi), to me the summer with its hot weather and incredible blue sky is simply amazing. A piece of green is for me like a wonderful piece of sea. I lay down on the grass, read a bit and sleep under the incredible sun.

I come from a part of the west, south Europe that always, appreciated the power of the sun. It is a region that throughout its history, undertook many different forms of cultural and racial syncretism.

I still remember when I was studying in Spain that oftentimes locals were thinking I was an immigrant from Morocco or any other Arab country (and this did not happen in Finland but in Spain, a county very close to Morocco). I was pretty much proud of that but I am not sure about those persons. Probably they were thinking of me as an “alien”, a stranger coming from a different culture and with a religion that is often misunderstood.

I am not sure where my origins go back to but I am decisively a Mediterranean guy despite not having any links with this wonderful Sea. Therefore it is obvious to me that my appearance or the appearance of someone coming from Morocco or Egypt are similar.

After all we are all part of the same hodgepodge: many Latin people like me could easily pass as Arabs and vice versa.

I strongly believe that we have so much in common in terms of culture and habits that we are definitely bound together despite many differences that are often overplayed and exaggerated.

One of the commonalities that Latin people and Arabs have in common is the color of our skin. Yes by going as per stereotype, we are pretty much dark with brown or dark hair.

Despite being classified as “Caucasian”, I am fairly dark myself and I can easily get tainted under the sun.

Believe me if there is anything I would change in my body, this would not be height or my nose (I am indeed bold enough not only to bear both of them but actually love them) but if I could change something, I would love being darker (ok maybe being a bit taller and with a less visible nose would not be that bad either..) but I simply love being and feeling darker.

I know it sounds stupid, after all, what’s wrong with being white? In the same way I wish I could be darker, there are people who wish they could be fairer.

While in Europe you have people ready to pay for artificial tanning from sun-ray lamps and sunbeds (something harmful to your health and pretty much stupid), there are plenty of folks in South Asia willing to pay money to become fairer.

To be clear this is not just a South Asian trend: if you think about Michael Jackson, there are plenty of African Americans or Africans dying to look fairer.

It could be that by nature we are always attracted to the opposite. White people want to be black and black people want to look like white.

The problem with me is when someone does not feel beautiful simply because of the color of their skin s/he feels insecure, less attractive because s/he feels to “wear” the wrong color.

It is high time we overcame this stupid behavior and ways of thinking. While everybody is entitled to get tainted or using special creams to become fairer, we should launch a global campaign called “LOVE YOUR COLOR ESPECIALLY IF IT IS BLACK”

White people like me never really feel discriminated against. Maybe for this reason, while l love being darker, I do not feel insecure about being white. When people thought I was an Arab, I laughed at them and I always replied to them “yes indeed”. After all being white is cool, white people have been dominating the world all over. They were or they are still the colonizers. It is normal that their color became the standard one.

Being white offers you lots of perks and free passes: I know this is unfair but this is the way unfortunately the world is run.

We need to defeat, once and for all, discriminatory attitudes towards people coming from backgrounds and origins different from the Caucasian one

The war against discrimination starts from the mindset of those who feel discriminated against or feel less beautiful because of the color of their skin.

They should start to perceive themselves differently and not always compared themselves to the usual “white” benchmark.

If I could be an animal, I would choose being a croc: laying down on the surface of the water, sleeping for hours under the sun. I would be super tainted, wow…

To all dark skinned people, especially the young ones:  smarten up, the darker, the better and more beautiful.