Which kinda brings me to another thing I've been thinking about lately. "The normal thing." We all judge people according to what we think is normal. For example, when you hear about a 40 year old guy who is still living at home, or a person who drops out of high school or doesn't want to attend college, or maybe someone who has some crazy idea, like they're going to write music and be famous someday. That is when "the normal thing" rears its ugly head. I mean, lets be honest, all of us look down on people who aren't "normal" every once in a while. It's largely subconscious I think. You see it on TV a lot, on the internet ALL the time (trolls love this), and even when we're interacting with each other face-to-face. Sometimes, it's warranted. I mean, a 50 year old drug addict who lives on the street? That really is pretty gross and not normal or healthy.
But what about the people who are actually going for something that hasn't been done before? Something that isn't normal precisely because it is beyond normal, because it's new, it's exciting, it's different. Sometimes those new and different things seem weird. They aren't always amazing right off the bat, and they often go down in quality before they go up. And how do we as people treat those ideas? Basically, like shit. "Oh, you're trying to do what? That's not normal. That's weird. You're stupid, why aren't you doing something that's normal? Why don't you get a real job? Why don't you get a girlfriend? Give up your stupid dream, it's worthless." We aren't that harsh about it, but we all feel it. That awkward twisting in the gut, the sudden rush of anger or discomfort, the desire to say something lashing or demeaning for reasons we don't really understand. Why to people do that? Why do they feel the need to tell other people what they should be doing? Why do we all need to stick to what has been done before? What's wrong with a little bit of difference? A little bit of something new? And most of all, why do people even care what someone else is doing with their life? At some point you just have to give someone the authority to live how they want to live, for good or bad.
I personally am terrible at all this. But it doesn't stop me from thinking about it and being effected by it. (You're an art major? Have fun living in a box for the rest of your life. Oh, you want to do what? Write a book? Make shirt designs? And how many people are successful at that? That's right, no one you can think of. Why don't you go to college for a real reason, like being a nurse? Or maybe, I don't know, getting a job or something?) And I'm not even trying to do anything super weird or exciting! The world is a very strange place sometimes.
Well, that's about all I have for now. Thanks for reading guys. :)
