Extremes
I'm the type of person who's always been attracted to those brave souls who for one reason or another, exist at the margins of society. I suppose it's because I was one such person due to the speech handicap I had as a boy, so I grew up far less judgmental of these "outcasts" than did other people.
Think Different
I can still remember standing in front of a communist who was cowering in a corner and protecting him with my body from a crowd that wanted to attack him for his political beliefs. I gave an impassioned speech that this is America, and we don't attack people here in "The Land of the Free" for what they believe in. And that if anybody wanted to beat this kid up, they'd have to go through me as well.
I brought up that famous Norman Rockwell painting Freedom of Speech of that courageous man standing up and respectfully disagreeing with the crowd. Beat him up for his politics? "Not as long as I have breath in me you won't!" I shouted.
He was a tiny little kid with blonde hair and a terrified look on his face, just 17. These big, older guys were gonna "teach him a lesson" for daring to think differently from them. I was outraged.
I particularly pointed out the "Christians" from the Bible Belt of the US for their hypocrisy. "What would Jesus do?" I asked them? And would you be doing this if he was standing here in front of you? It was dicey there for a minute, but the crowd slowly thinned away as I confronted the ringleaders one by one.
The area I live in is considered Bernie Sanders country. Once you get past the surrounding suburbs, you enter Trump country. This town has to be 90% Democrat, so running into an actual republican is rare.
I almost need a spreadsheet to keep up with the personal pronouns...
I was working for a temp agency at a furniture store, and heard a loud argument. It turns out that one guy had admitted to the crowd to being not only a Republican (which in their eyes was bad enough), but to being a conservative Republican, which was akin to being a Nazi.
So I'm thinking "Here we go again with the political stuff!"
Everyone was berating him, and the supervisor was threatening to terminate him from his job for his political beliefs... So again, I spoke up just like I did for the communist and reminded everybody that we were in America, not Nazi Germany.
That not only was it wrong what they were doing, but that it was illegal as well, and if they went through with it, I would back him to the hilt and testify against them in court. I looked them each in the face one by one staring them down until they relented.
Crazy isn't it? In the Land of the Free...
I keep finding myself in these situations where nobody will speak up until I do. (and sometimes not at all). At times I've wondered if its God testing me to see what I'll do. But I know what being ostracized is like, so I never remain silent. It's amazing what one person can do with the courage of their conviction and a little bit of passion.
In one of my college classes, I was sitting near a student and was about to ask him for something when I saw he was deep into reading a book. In it, there were sigils and other markings, and because I read a lot, I knew what he was studying.
Next thing you know, we're talking about the left and right-hand path, the golden dawn, and Babylon Working (yes I know what they are, and Jack Parsons had quite the ending didn't he?), and other bits of esoteric beliefs. He was surprised because I'm a christian, but I'm also a student of history who loves inhaling knowledge, and not being told what I can and cannot learn.
Let's just say that since I didn't judge him, we had one very interesting discussion, that lasted well after classes were over...
I'd already read the Book of Enoch when I was 13. The Book of Giants, Gnosticism, all that stuff. If you tell me I shouldn't read something or talk to a certain person, I want to know why, and it makes me want to do exactly that. Don't ever try to cut me off from knowledge, as I want to soak up as much as I can in this life.
I've always been attracted to people who aren't afraid to be different and be themselves. I would never want to live in a world where everyone thought alike and no one had an extreme opinion about anything.
The Land Of The Free
I can remember as a child standing hand on heart, facing the flag and reciting The Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of every school day.
We've always been a patriotic family and have lost members fighting overseas and here at home during the Civil War (On BOTH sides, Union and Confederate, though the majority were for the Union). So I've always had a deep love for my country and the freedoms we have here compared to some other places.
This is also one of the reasons I embrace crypto and the freedom that it offers.
I always want there to be that prepper up in the hills, that Wiccan, or flat earther (no, I'm not one, thank you very much), that lonely Communist with his Little Red Book, and yes, even those nutjobs from the Westboro Baptist Church (Yes, they actually have a website named that. Crazy).
America is strong enough for differing opinions like this, and it's exactly what our Constitution was written for. To protect the beliefs of those in the numerical minority from the majority. Thank goodness we don't have mob rule.
That's why we're a republic living by the rule of law, and NOT a democracy, living by the rule of the majority (And to the republic for which it stands. And I like it that way. My version of America is personified in the Norman Rockwell painting I referenced earlier in this writing. If the US is truly "The Land of the Free" then everyone has the right to their own beliefs in the land of freedom.
Please check out my recent posts:
What Working As A Dishwasher Taught Me About Money (And Life)
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I am with you my friend. I may not agree with someone, but I will die to defend their right to have that opinion, and have put on the uniform to do so.
I think our problem anymore is we spend too much time talking past each other these days instead of too each other. We also have media outlets from all sides with talking heads exasperating this.
Right? Imagine firing someone because of what political party they joined? That's not the American way. Many of those books that I read, I did so because I was ordered not to. The best way to get me to read something, is to tell me I can't read it! lol!
When I was 13, my mother told me to never read The Book of Enoch, and The Book of Giants, neither of which I'd ever heard of. I'm 13, and you mention GIANTS?? So of course I went out and read both! :)
Sounds to me like you learnt to speak out due to not having been able to speak 'properly' for a decade. Love this story! ❤️
Exactly. No popularity to lose. They shunned me because I couldn't speak, but that made me more independent. The kids that were popular had to "go along, to get along" or else. I didn't, and it helped make me the man I am today, where peer pressure has absolutely no effect on me. I can be my own man.
I hear you.
I like to think that us 'outcasts' ( and I believe there's a lot of them on a platform like Hive ) often come back stronger, if they manage to work on themselves enough.
Although I wasn't that much of an outcast as a kid, I definitely wasn't popular. Most of the so-called 'losers' and later 'nerds' were my friends. I was a shy, introverted, small boy, up till the age of 16. Kids made fun of my ears, and later, during puberty, I felt bad about my acne. I 'survived' on my humor and intelligence and on being a good talker.
Looking back on it now, the shyness might also have been caused by being highly sensitive and not knowing it, as well as struggling with what they now label as ADD ).
In Uni, I started suffering from depression.
As doctors never managed to ease my suffering, nor diagnose me in a helpful way ( I was never diagnosed with depression or anything at all. The only label I got, when I was already in my 30s, was having a hyperreactive respiratory system ), I started on a self discovery path that, eventually, made me quit my job, get into crypto and move to another country with more sun hours and more nature, to live a free-er life focused on the things that I like to do.
Enjoy your weekend!
P.S. I didn't even mention daily headaches and years with almost daily nose bleeds haha but I already went on a kind of rant so I'll just add it here ;<)
Introverts and empaths care, and the world wouldn't turn without us. Not everybody can be a warmongering "Type A". Gotta have us "Type B's" to balance things out. And while I've never been depressed, I hear it can be quite the nut to crack. That's why I'm happy that you changed your environment, and am so glad you found a team with those of us who support you here on Hive.