Born to be Different

Born to be Different

I was born lost and enjoy the exploration of life, and honestly don’t like being found. I like every day to be different, to learn from scores of different people, their thoughts, hopes and dreams, those I tend to borrow and keep them tucked away in the dusty recesses in my brain. They have seen and lived acutely opposite of me, they know where they’re going, and know the roads to get there, sans a map.

I never had much use for maps, they make us lazy, dependent and although they offer a comfort of direct routes, I prefer to take some side streets and see where they lead me. I like the colors of life, the shapes of the trees, the closeness of the sky, I’m not keen on a world of pavement. For me the destination isn’t as important as the process of getting there, the excitement of seeing something new, anything that stimulates my mind, an unfocused focus one might say.

When I was a young lad my math teachers would be infuriated because I didn’t show ‘my work’ but the answer was correct, so why did they care? We can all take different routes but if we end up in the same location does it matter how we got there? My mind obviously is different than whoever reads this, and yours different from the next, yet if I enjoy writing and you enjoy reading we’ve shared something no one can separate us from.

I can’t wrap a gift, color an Easter egg or draw a straight line with a ruler, those are talents others have and I appreciate them fully, but those gifts take patience to master, I don’t have that kind of time. I can’t surf, ski or skateboard, yet there is a beauty in those acts that entrance me. We were all blessed equally but not with the same gifts, that in itself would create a life as mundane as black and white with no tints, I’m finding myself sleepy thinking of such.

I can look at any defensive set in football and pick it apart a hundred ways, I can show you how to block it, how to influence the defenders where I want them to go, not where they should be, but give me the most simple directions on putting together a bike or plumbing a bathroom sink and I’m Rip Van Winkle and check back twenty years later, and I’m still not done. I do whole heartedly believe the latter two always come with extra parts, and my kids have bumps and bruises and my bathroom sink only leaks a little, so what the heck. Plus I have drawers full of nuts, bolts and PVC to prove my ridiculous point.

We are all explorers, discoverers in our own ways and times, and I should be working on a bathroom sink about as much as a certified plumber should be diagramming football plays. One is not harder than the other, it’s our brains are wired differently and we are all gifted different tools in which to expand humanity as a whole and our community only becomes workable if we pull together, marrying strengths with weaknesses.

I’m pretty laid back and chill, but put me on a football field or basketball court and an intensity comes out of me few know I even possess. I can be stubborn, obnoxiously so in certain situations, I wish I wasn’t, but if wishes were horses, beggars would ride for free. I face challenges daily that mystify me as I’m sure we all do, I don’t sleep much, at least in the hours assigned for we humans to sleep, but naps are a gift to we lucky enough to age.

And I’ve learned through the years to call a plumber, have my wife wrap gifts, and under no circumstances put together projects that require tools. We all have our weaknesses and knowing those are a part of ones humanity.

For now, work together, create the life you want and hope for, and don’t forget to call me if you’re having a party, I like parties, for no other reason than they’re fun.

Crack Egg Out