Welcome to Weirdsville
Population: Me
“A person willing to fly in the face of reason, authority, and common sense must be a person of self-assurance. Since he occurs only rarely, he must seem eccentric (in at least that respect) to the rest of us.” ~Isaac Asimov
Or — to put it another way — if you’re willing to take your batshit craziness out in public, you’ve got to be confident.
Asimov makes weirdness sound sophisticated and intriguing. And “eccentric” has a better ring to it. SO much classier than “weirdo.” Eccentric people walk around with complete and utter confidence.
Weirdos, though, they’re a different bunch. The kind of people you cross to the other side of the street to avoid. That’s the way it usually seems to work. The connotation around “weird” is negative.
But why?
What’s so wrong with being an abnormal lunatic?
And who gets to decide that showing up at the grocery store with a Grogu beanie isn’t normal? I get more compliments than the people who opt for stylish “ordinary” headgear.
Accepting the weird streak in my DNA took time, though. I spent the majority of my life trying to purge it. Because of the negative way people speak the word. And the way they hustle in front of oncoming traffic to avoid sharing sidewalk space…
