: popeye was right :

“I yam what I yam, and that’s all what I yam.”
— Popeye the Sailorman

The dude was a flipping philosopher. And he was right on the money, too; we are what we are. So, after a lifetime as a square peg and a sore thumb, I’ve decided to accept my quirks and move on. What other choice is there? Lobotomy? De-programming? Thanks, but no.

When you think about it, freethinking is pretty gutsy conduct, you know? The path of least resistance is a guaranteed cakewalk, just fall into step and follow the crowd. Any idiot can do that. Going against the tide, though, that takes a certain amount of courage. Veering off on your own and flying against convention is to risk failure. But you’re also flirting with the possibility of discovery and wonder and achievement. How thrilling is that?

Throughout history, the world has been blessed with an abundance of weirdos. Einstein picked cigarette butts off sidewalks and put the tobacco in his pipe. Nikola Tesla refused to touch anything round and required exactly 18 napkins, arranged in three stacks of six, at each meal. Pythagoras, he of mathematics fame, started a religion based on two core principles: souls are reincarnated and beans are evil. All beans, no exceptions. Michelangelo rarely bathed and often slept fully dressed — including his shoes.

Heck, every field of endeavor in every corner of the world has a unique assortment of oddballs: Salvador Dali, Steve Jobs, Oscar Wilde, Copernicus, Adrian Monk. Their contributions are priceless and their numbers are legion.

So, go ahead, slap a label on me — misfit, eccentric, screwball, wack job, crackpot —   I‘ll bear it proudly. We all should. The truth is, we weren’t left behind by a society of smarter, more capable people, we simply chose to step aside and go our own way. Different is good in this fractured, divisive world.

Come on, let’s hear it for the truculent.

copyright © 2017 the whirly girl