Sweat: The Great Equalizer

I'll be honest with you. The sole purpose of this blog was to be light-hearted and silly. I wanted to vent about things I'd speak with my girlfriends about over a bottle or two of wine.  I wanted to ruminate with all of you things that come into my mind for no apparent reason and stay there.

Admittedly, life has been pretty heavy lately, pretty challenging, immensely uncertain for me...and I thought writing about some day- to-day things we can all relate to, writing about the least thought provoking tales might be good for all of us in some small, pathetic way.

But, the truth is, it's harder than it would seem. The world can be horrifying sometimes, or incredibly magnificent, but rarely mundane. Protests, uprisings, Snowden's exposing of the U.S. surveillance programs, the SCOTUS VRA ruling, the overturning of DOMA, people opening fire yet again in public spaces, Paula Deen bringing racism back to the foreront (did it ever leave?)  and not to mention Turkey, Syria, the Middle East in general.....all most recent in the media and on my mind. Not only on my mind, but they downright keep me up at night...and yet,  here I am ...just me, trying to figure out a way to explain how I feel that "sweat"  can bring about a sense of being the same, feeling connected by a basic human function.
Yes, that was my topic for today and I did just drop that in after listing the most mind-blowing events in recent history. Sorry. Um, so since I have already mentioned it,  I'll just go ahead and tell you what I had in mind, with the understanding that the things I've listed above do not slip beneath my sea salt caramel laden radar. Please know that.

But since equality has been front and center in the media this week, allow me to jump on the band wagon with a realization about something I have noticed for long time and always gave me something to think about:

"Sweat: The Great Equalizer"

Bear with me here.

  I was headed downtown to a fancy bar to meet some friends last week as the oppressing NYC summer began (you know, the kind of days where you walk the streets like you're something out of the "Thriller" video, because the stench of sizzling dog urine and garbage emanating from the side walk puts you into some involuntary zombie- like dance routine). You leave your home and make it about a block before that familiar drip on the back of your neck tells you the weather man was completely wrong once again (how do they even get this job?) and it's actually not going to be a windy, rainy day after all! You get the go-ahead signal to cross the street, but not before the thought of complaining about the heat is quickly axed by how many times you complained about the long, frigid winter on your Facebook status updates. Yeah, that happened.

You tough it out, because even though you say nothing, you know you're not alone. Everyone is wiping sweat from their brows and upper lips, from the backs of their necks in unison, letting out a long moan of utter exhaustion. In a time where so many people are still desperately trying to decipher themselves from another, this can remind us that we are in fact, all the same. All one.

 I don't care if you're wearing Maybelline or YSL, darling, you're gonna sweat. I don't care if you're  wearing a thrift store sundress or a silk designer shift, money won't stop what your body is about to do to that material. And I will laugh, even if I am one of you. I admit to needing to have a girlfriend check me as I got up to use the restroom just to make sure my sweat was not showing through my dress. I know you do it, too. I laugh, because I watch people lurching in between building entrances to apply face powder and more deodorant in the streets! I laugh because no matter who you are, how much money you have, how much effort you have just put into looking amazing and flawless...there is an excellent possibility that you are going to look like a swamp woman. Men, your plight is no different really, but you do get a pass on not having freshly applied make-up melt off of your face leaving you to arrive at your destination looking like a wretched toss out from Madame Tussaud's. As hard as we try, we cannot fight, cover or hide what is real, what is human.

(I'm sure by now you know I am not planning on getting into the science of sweat or anything of the sort here, though I know a few of you who would be chomping at the bits to talk about sweat in all of its mammalian glory. Yes, you know who you are. Also, please note: this is partially about sweating in a literal way, yes, but not in normal situations... like a work out). 

For posterity's sake, let's just say that my deciding to talk about "sweat" was just a ridiculously insane way for me to come to terms with how scary this world can be sometimes. How anxious and uncertain I can feel in it, and how alone it can seem. I'd be looking for something to connect me to you....or you, or you. And so, I'd get down to the basics. I'd want for you to think about this blog post the next time you are walking down the street and see a 'fellow sweater' simply surrendering to what they cannot escape. I want for you to think about this post when you find yourself sticky and miserable after unloading groceries into your car at the supermarket only to get into the car and burn the backs of your thighs on your leather seats. I'd want for you to think about this post after you've missed the train and now you're standing on the subway platform knowing the next train is a long 12 minutes away and all you have is stale air and a daydream to go along with your side of sweat. I'd want for you to think about this blog post when you are on your way to something important and your hair has given up the battle with humidity and you feel ever so self-conscious, but then remember that you're not alone and anyway, you'd look fabulous in a soaked potato sack. I'd for want you to think about it because... for the tiniest sliver of time, you and I will be connected. And that's what this is all about, as absolutely preposterous as it may seem --  I'm looking for an equalizer here: something more that can join us together, not amplify our differences, not something to tear us apart...we have enough of that already.


I hope you are at least shaking your head or smiling with me, here.