The Anomalous Person (aka: oddball) posted 4/6/2009 9:51:36 AM | 9 kudos what's this?     report abuse tagged: motivation, writing

barelyhere

“I’m a little boy with glasses…the one they call the geek. I’m that kid on every playground who’s always chosen last. A single teenage mother tryin’ to overcome my past. And I know how it feels to cry myself to sleep. You don’t have to be my friend but is it too much to ask?? Don’t laugh at me. Don’t call me names. Don’t get your pleasure from my pain. In God’s eyes we’re all the same. Someday we’ll all have perfect wings….don’t laugh at me.”-Don’t laugh at Me sung my Mark Wills

The rejects, loners, and the oddballs….we’ve all heard these names used before to categorize people who didn’t seem to fit into their surroundings. It hurts to be considered the oddity in certain social situations. Words do hurt and can cause a person to wonder where their place is in society. However, if we look at the top pioneers throughout history, we’ll find that oft times these individuals were considered cast outs, heretics, and their methods of thinking and operating were unorthodox. Take Galileo Galilei for example. He held firm to the Copernican theory that the sun, not the earth, was at the center of the solar system. In 1616, Galileo was forbidden to teach this theory in the churches and was later sentenced to life imprisonment. But can you imagine what our view of life on Earth would be like without people like Galileo? So, as parents, we sometimes may worry that our children won’t “fit” into the popular crowd but you know? I say it’s okay because Christians aren’t supposed to fit in anyhow but stand out….so let the child be different and display their creativity and uniqueness….it’s all good. I’ve spent the better part of my life wondering why I’ve always felt I didn’t “fit in” with my peers and other social circles. I’ve never tried to “be” something I’m not. I’m just ‘Plain Jane’ me.

Though I was an 80’s child, my taste in music was different the my peers because I found most pop and metal music wretched and preferred the more melodic sounds of Genesis, Bee Gees, Luther Vandross, Michael Bolton and Chicago. I was considered a more “formal” child and would drive my sister insane by writing my full name on cards addressed to my family. My sister used to say, “Why do you do that? Our family knows what your last name is!” But eh, it was just part of who I was. As a young child, I was an advocate for the underdog and would be the first to get “suited and booted up” to go handle a situation. I was not a rebel and I would submit to leadership when it was apt…but I refused to benefit from someone else’s pain. My revelation about my uniqueness unfolded during my six grade year, where I spent more time in the principal’s office then I did in the classroom! No, I wasn’t misbehaving. One of my classmates stuttered a lot and the teacher made fun of him in front of the other students and me? Well, I couldn’t seem to convert fractions and she labeled me stupid. So I let the principal and my parent’s know about her cruel behavior and she was put on notice to get her act together or be fired. In the meantime, I was given accommodations to be taught math by another teacher and have weekly conversations with my principal. I looked forward to my weekly chats about school with my principal. He was the first person who confirmed that I was an optimistic individual. I remember him using the glass half full or half empty lesson and in spite of all the hell I was going through….I still saw the glass half full. I owe a great deal to my principal for the time he took to cultivate my self-worth during a time when my teacher was tearing it into shreds. I learned God made me unique and set apart from other’s for a reason. God has given me love and compassion for every individual regardless of color, race, intellect or bank account. We need to teach our kids that if their being labeled an “oddball,” it’s not necessarily a bad thing because it means they’re just too unique to be contained by the boxes society wants to shove them in. If you happen to feel like an oddity, just remember God has set you apart for a reason. Tap into His word, bend your ear to hear Him…and in the meantime….eat some cake and celebrate!

Leadership can be a very lonely but rewarding road to walk,
Barelyhere

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