Being Strange

 

 

 

(Beach Stones, Lake Huron)

 

"It's ok.

Writers should be strange."

CafePress.com

 

 

As each beach stone or sea shell is never identical, why does our culture put so much emphasis on trying to make us compete to be the same?  If the creator, universe, goddess creates us to be individual and authentic, why would we not be focused on our own uniqueness?  Instead of hiding our special gifts, we would be placing more energy into them to be fine tuned.

 

Our culture allows artists, writers, and entrepreneurs to be 'out of the box', but there seems to be a more defined code for a CEO, teacher, doctor, or minister.  There are multiple scenarios where doctors, for example, leave their prestigious hospital to enter a foreign country to help the poor in a ramble of a shack as a make do surgery suite.  There is an entire organization of such doctors, but apparently our culture chooses not to highlight these gestures.  Also, numerous teachers spend the summer volunteering at children's camps, church retreats, and community services.  Where is the praise for these worthy actions? 

 

One would suspect that the professionals offering their services to the lesser few are not doing it for the attention.  The teachers are placing their energy where they feel called to help others.  These are attitudes, if we all practiced them, that could shift our world and the world of others.    The emphasis of those who serve is on giving, not receiving recognition. 

 

Perhaps if we would all walk to the beat of our own drum, and venture fully into our personal oddity, without concern of judgement, our world would shift into a better place.  Encouragement leads to confidence, and confidence leads to self-esteem.  If we focused more on instilling strength to be authentic rather than wasting energy on following misguided paths, we could all be happier people.  We would be with each other rather than against.