There’s also a sense here of “I want to be different than what I am and I am different than other people.” That aspirational different is aspirational in that sense as well.

I’m not sure how to approach telling anyone else that there’s a golden island called self-acceptance that we all eventually land on in this seemingly endless sea of eternal uncertainty since I am still searching the horizon for a lighthouse, but I want you to know that I like your kind of different and that I don’t see you as sinking, but certainly wandering, lost at sea. Perhaps you and I can become a different kind of pirate, and maybe I’ll be one who is know for extended metaphors; “That’s Existential Beard,” they’ll say to each other over mugs of rum, “Don’t ask ‘em about the nature of the universe or you’ll never leave this tavern, savvy?”

I’m tired. Goodnight, and here’s to being different.

    Laura Godden Nielsen

    Written by

    Education and kindness are the lifeblood of democracy.

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