Make Me Weird
Walking down the streets of Chelsea I overhear someone crying into their mobile phone. “Don’t try to fit me into your box!” Their voice is a high-pitched whine, a plea.
Many of us know the feeling of someone trying to squeeze us into their box. Parents, teachers, school, work, teams, scrums. This is how we do things here. Do this, not that. Turn it down. Move up. Stand here. Wait there. Walk. Don’t walk. Run. Run. Run.
This box ain’t made for you and me. Some of us have broken the box. No fence can hold us in. We go our own way.
We have become weirdos.
Although the term “weird” implies an unguided walk on the wild side, a pre-pandemic study (2015) showed that over half of people under 30 considered themselves feeling distanced and weird. Breaking down that sixty-two percent: 28% of respondents considered themselves to be only partly weird, while the other 34% of people considered themselves to be complete weirdos.
(I couldn’t find a complementary post-pandemic study, but I think we know what the results would be. NOTE: If that study is out there, please identify yourself.)
