Living Wittily

Subverting the Memes: Love the Rhinoceros You Are!

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DreamsA lot of humour and imagination is hidden behind various memes and photos circulating on Facebook.

Amongst them this picture of a rhinoceros on a treadmill.

The caption is one of those life coaching motivational one liners.

Except, if I was a rhinoceros why would I want to be a unicorn?

Beauty is not the prerogative of those who think they are beautiful; nor is beauty defined by the cliches, images and prejudices of a self-obsessed culture.

Dreams are those stories we tell ourselves about how we would like our world or ourselves to be.

That's OK. What isn't OK is a dream imposed by others' expectations.

Dreams like that are built on guilt, undermined self-esteem, and someone else's image of what beauty and fulfilment look like.

In this picture the rhinoceros is real, the unicorn is a fantasy. 

In any case a beautiful, healthy rhinoceros will always be the distilled essence of a rhinoceros, it would be a visual display of rhinocerosness at its best.

Instead of this meme reinforcing our already felt inadequacy, it's good to subvert it, and be proud of our identity, image, dignity and right to be who you are. 

This meme and its slogan encourage us to attempt the impossible, to live a fantasy.

Better to live the real life of a rhinoceros with contented gratitude, than the impossible fantasy of a unicorn trying to convince itself it is more than a badly hung poster. 

Comments

3 responses to “Subverting the Memes: Love the Rhinoceros You Are!”

  1. Angela Almond avatar
    Angela Almond

    Absolutely, Jim. Whenever I hear that song from Dreamcoat “Any dream will do” I shout NO IT WON’T! Yes, by all means have a dream -but the dreams we have must not be dependent on fantasy. We do a disservice to the younger generation if we encourage them to believe they can be ‘anyone they want’. As you say, we need to teach them to be proud of their identity, image, dignity and their right to be who they are.

    Reply
  2. Angela Almond avatar
    Angela Almond

    Absolutely, Jim. Whenever I hear that song from Dreamcoat “Any dream will do” I shout NO IT WON’T! Yes, by all means have a dream -but the dreams we have must not be dependent on fantasy. We do a disservice to the younger generation if we encourage them to believe they can be ‘anyone they want’. As you say, we need to teach them to be proud of their identity, image, dignity and their right to be who they are.

    Reply
  3. Angela Almond avatar
    Angela Almond

    Absolutely, Jim. Whenever I hear that song from Dreamcoat “Any dream will do” I shout NO IT WON’T! Yes, by all means have a dream -but the dreams we have must not be dependent on fantasy. We do a disservice to the younger generation if we encourage them to believe they can be ‘anyone they want’. As you say, we need to teach them to be proud of their identity, image, dignity and their right to be who they are.

    Reply

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