My wife is a dermatologist and as such, skin is her livelihood and I hear about it a lot. Your skin is your largest organ, it's also your fastest growing. Skin protects our innards, it insulates us from all sorts of external buggery.
Skin also tends to be the first thing many people see or recognize in someone else. That person is brown, black, pale, white, yellow, purple --quick, does anyone know CPR?
I have never had a hard time with the color of my skin, (edit: that's a lie, I can elaborate in comments) but I think it can make other people feel uncomfortable at times. My last name is Clausnitzer and I'm pretty brown. Naturally, this raises some eyebrows, which is fine but what's annoying is the inevitable, "so, where are you from" question. When I say, "Michigan," it's not the answer they're looking for. They want to hear "Saudi Arabia" or some other brown, scary place. Saying that my father and mother are both second generation American citizens whose parents are German and Mexican isn't what they want to hear either, it's too complex. They want the Mexican part. How did a brown guy like you get a German name? Adopted?
Anyways, I want to hear about you. Are you comfortable in your skin? Even if you are as white as Christmas, there are times when we don't feel like we belong. Perhaps it's a gender identification thing, a ginger thing, a curly hair when I want straight hair thing, a black in a white town thing or a white in a black town thing...
When have you felt the most comfortable? When the least?
I thank you in advance for your answers:
lil and eightbitsamurai coffeesp00ns -I'd love to hear your take on this.
Full disclosure, I am considering a podcast on this topic. steve