To be one’s self,
and unafraid whether right or wrong,
is more admirable
than the easy confidence
of surrender to conformity.

-Irving Wallace

 

 

It is better to be hated for what you are
than loved for what you are not.

-Andre Gide

 

 

Style is knowing who you are,
what you want to say,
and not giving a damn.

-Gore Vidal

I may have mentioned before, that the “Thursday Hang in There” is code for “bigass spiders (Kristin don’t look).” I’ve been taking a lot of flak lately about all the spider photos, but I’m taking my cue from Gore Vidal today.

I like the spider photos. So there.

What always amazes me about the spiders is that they don’t back down. Rather than scurry off or fly away at the slightest movement like most little buggers, spiders seem cognizant of my approach and will actually move towards me. I have to admire them, standing up to Goliath. Running towards an unknown enemy. Scrappy little guys.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some sort of weird spider lover, I won’t be keeping them as pets, I get jumpy when they get too close, and I don’t touch them if I don’t have to.

But I respect the role they play. Spiders keep the populations of mosquitos and fruit flies and other pests down, for which I am eternally grateful, and they in turn provide food for the birds that we so love. Without spiders, the balance of nature would be thrown into absolute chaos.

We all have a role to play; we are all connected. Each of us is essential in some specific and vital way. What we need to do is search out what that one thing is, and pursue it with all our energy and ability.

I feel like in this country we push the idea of being unique and yet reward conformity. And then we point fingers; this one is no different than that one, that one has no new ideas, everyone is like so many sheep.

Conformity is the jailer of freedom
and the enemy of growth.
-JFK

Whoso would be a man,
must be a nonconformist.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is something I think about often in terms of my children. Do I want them to stand out or fit in?

And I think of it almost constantly now in terms of politics.

Do we really want mavericks representing our interests? Is real change even possible with so many people in power who are so much the same, and representative of a homogenized society?

Do we live in a country that celebrates individual thought, free speech, anymore? How does society move forward if it does not?

Another day, another tangent. Really, I have to start planning these posts ahead of time. Any thoughts?