Why Does My Independence Threaten You So Much?
My life experience isn’t meant for your convenience or whims
To this very day, I’m haunted by my Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Dressler. She had a visible chip on her shoulder when dealing with me in her class. It was a combination of revulsion and condescension.
Mrs. Dressler was one of those teachers who prefers that all of her students behave like robots or drones. To hell with individuality or creativity!
She didn’t like how I couldn’t read her mind. She loathed the fact that I was unwilling to make friends by walking up to other kids and introducing myself.
My mom hated her. She tells me, to this very day, she resents Mrs. Dressler for how she treated me…and blames herself for failing to stand up to her.
My Kindergarten teacher may have been my earliest experience with social repression. But it was hardly the only case.
All my life, people have tried to control me by stigmatizing me as the oddball. The spoiled kid. The know-it-all. The high-maintenance freak.
And I’m so over it!
The “Mainstream” Is Tiresome
With all the hand-wringing over the future of our civilization, you’d think folks would…
