1.
The outsider.
How does one become an outsider? Are we born as outsider? Is it fate? Is it a conscious choice?
I was an outsider while growing up because I liked to study. It was not the cool thing to do, it was not ‘in’, it was not popular with other kids – thus I became an outsider.
I was an outsider when I graduated from high school because in some areas where most my schoolmates had first hand knowledge, I only knew theory from books. For this, one is often ridiculed – thus I became an outsider.
I was an outsider as a young parent because of my appreciation of language learning and refusing to politicize the language decision at a time when everybode could choose freely. I wanted my child to learn Russian while the majority of parents voted against it, just to show how great they were. The minority of course was derided… They who are shunned and derided are the outsider – remaining firmly outside the mainstream.
I was an outsider in a nation where being part of the mainstream majority was defined by the readiness to put blame on the minority. If you are not willing to hunt as part of the pack, you will be hunted yourself. Outsider.
I was an outsider because I am a vegetarian. In a society in which the cult of eating meat is near mandatory, this borders on a crime. Eating well and plenty is celebrated as a pivotal trait in our society. What kind of person is it who cannot eat good food and drink? Outsider. Firmly outside the mainstream.
I am an outsider because I do not like neatly manicured lawns and perfectly geometric hedges, the will of man enforced on the environment. Man is the dominant species – are we allowed to doubt it? I am an outsider for doing so.
I am also an outsider while growing older. Not due to habit. I do not take pills or drugs. Neither to maintain my mental acuity nor for any other reason. When I see the TV commercial ‘This is the best way to preserve mental freshness’ I smile a little within, pull out my block of sudoku and solve another for the day. A sudoku a day from the tougher category is a very good way to stay sharp. Furthermore I can recommend basic arithmetics for training the mind. Some multi-digit division exercises, of course strictly pen and paper without a calculator, do a great deal to keep one up to speed. Guaranteed no side effects either. Outsider .
Will I be an outsider in death as well? I do not know. I want a nice and natural death. Maybe now that also makes on an outsider?
*******************************************
2.
time2life 