Hodge Podge Different
Over the years I’ve seen and heard all sorts of things, good things, great things and wonderful things, however lately It seems that more and more that people are being segregated or singled out for a multitude of reasons, they are poor, young, gay, foreign or even old. I don’t get it, we’re all part of the same earth, aren’t we? Why can’t we just get along?
Being different can suck big time, I know this from personal experience, I’m short, I wear glasses and I’m more than a little portly shall we say, all good ingredients for certain people to cook up some great insults to hurl at you when you least expect it.
Going through school was tough I was and still am asthmatic and was dubbed lazy when I couldn’t keep up with the rest of the class, for me it wasn’t about winning the race it was about surviving and having enough air. Running was great but after a mile or, so I would lose my wind and would come to a stop, gasping for air. I was different to the other kids in class, I spoke differently I used long words when they didn’t, I was interested in other things, different.
Now I don’t know about you but when you’re different they, being the class, the herd either like you
enmasse or they hate you. I was labeled posh and spoiled when class mates learned I was an only child, they imagined all sorts of fabulous things I must have being spoilt like they thought, that I had all the latest stuff in my house that we had pots of money. Not true, we were poor for money, not poor for other things like books or crafts, I never lacked attention, my parents were solid there, what they couldn’t buy they would make and I salute them for it. But we were never rich.
As the terms went by the insults were always there, fat jokes, jibes and name calling, it was the same but that’s ok, it’s ok to be different I learnt that early in life, maybe the bullies couldn’t cope with my self-sufficient attitude I was forced to grow. I didn’t need them to be my friend and they knew it. Thank goodness my parents were there to keep me together and concentrating on what was important. If I needed a hug it was always there.
When I left school, I joined the workforce like a million other people, going to interviews and filling our forms always lots to do and places to go, people to see that kind of thing.
I found a job I liked and stayed for a year. I was still different, different to everyone around me, they were friendly, but I didn’t feel like I really belonged there.
I met my husband to be, he was different too, but he was different like me, we connected, we clicked we were different together, we belonged. We married and then had some beautiful, wonderful different children, each one of them are creative and funny, clever and tactile I love them all so much’ but we’re still different. We don’t run with the herd we started our own it was once said, I liked that.
So, after a lifetime of being different I’ve come to terms with it. I can walk into a room now and feel the buzz of people talking and laughing and feel alone, not because they aren’t friendly, I think I lack the social Wi-Fi that I need. I have to try very hard to connect, if I like you and a talk to you you’ve joined a very elite rank of people that I make an extreme effort to socialize with, it’s not because I don’t want to, I can’t.
I’ve had it said that I’m dyslexic that maybe true, call it what you want, I don’t care, I’m still me, labels don’t matter and like I said before it’s ok to be different. Don’t let society push you into being what they want you to be. Be you, be different, be nice. Don’t pay attention to meanies. Stay true to yourself, it’ll come right in the end, hang in there.
I’m off to start another book to read... As always be nice to one another.