Go ahead. Think differently. It’s OK.
In response to a recent post, MarcoPolo, who never misses a trick, writes: Did you ever pause for a minute and just consider how your hysterical diatribe sounds to the average person?
This is a great question, as I do care what the average person thinks. It was precisely the Democrats failing to concern themselves with what the average person thought in 2016 that gave us our current wall-building, pu**y-grabbing, environment-destroying, Nazi-supporting president.
On the other hand, it reminds me of a story. When my kids were young they had a friend next door, a girl of maybe 13 or 14, who was growing up on a 160-acre ranch, but without much parental direction. I saw her frequently, and I began to take an interest in her well-being, which took several forms. She was terrible at math, so I helped her there; she wanted to learn to play the piano, so I gave her lessons; she loved to hike in the river and the mountains behind it (shown above), and I’d often go along.
During these moments, especially on the hikes, I came to understand that, outside of math, this kid was positively brilliant, and incredibly inquisitive. She’d ask me deeply philosophic questions, and we’d speak at great length about politics, life after death, what we can learn from history–things one would expect could never come out of the mouth of a high school freshman in today’s world. In fact, I was stunned to know that kids still came in that size, and delighted to be a part of such wonderful talks.
She came to trust me, and she confessed one day when we had gotten to the top of the mountain behind her family’s place, “I’m weird, Craig. I’m not like the other kids. I want them to like me, but I don’t fit in. I never will. Ever.”
I told her that I totally understood, but I asked her to consider the difference between “being weird” and daring to think differently than the people around you. “Given the choice, are you really sure you’d trade in your incredible mind and your intense curiosity about the world around you, just to fit in with kids who couldn’t care less about anything other than video games and trying so desperately to be cool and popular?”
I like to think I talked her down a bit from her anxiety that day.
In any case, I don’t see any real imperative in life to fit in with people–average or otherwise.
Craig,
An interesting story, and rather sad considering how easily in today’s paranoid and prurient atmosphere you may hesitate before forming such an innocent and obviously beneficial relationship.
It’s fine as an individual to think what you wish, but once you take up the responsibility of becoming an advocate a different set of rules apply.
As an environmentalist and clean technology advocate, you share with others a responsibility not to harm your own cause with gratuitous language, inaccurate or irrelevant tirades,and above all you should strive to be honest, accurate and credible.
Advocates sacrifice the right to hold unqualified opinions and prejudice when they claim the credentials to sway others outside a small group of ignorant supporters.
Advocates must be prepared to have their pronouncements tested, and debated in the forum of public opinion, since they seek to affect the lives of others with their advocacy.
When an advocates credibility is challenged or accuracy disputed the advocate must either defend their claims with accurate information or acknowledge errors. The penalty for silence, or just shouting louder, is a loss of credibility not just for the advocate, but the cause.
Once again I invite you to consider the words of the immortal bard, and avoid becoming ;
“…a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale,
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
MacBeth