Oh to be the same!

The Things of Dreams.

Another little dream painting made from one or two scribbles on the page and a little imagination and a sparkle of artistic license.

I am still to some extent stuck in my little thoughts of dreams and how much an import they play in our lives. I have discovered in the past few dreams that there are people who have no time at all for dreams or dreamers. Then there are others who like me feel that if there are dreams that inspire some reality and fruitful action there is plenty of room for such.

I, as a young lad, had a very real dream and desire to be just like everybody else. I dreamt of waking up one morning and discovering I was the same height as everybody else in my class at school. I had a dream that one day I would go to school and not have to face the snide comments, I just wanted to be like everybody else.

Most people like to be the same as everyone else. There is a sense of fear in being too different from others, what will people think of us, so we take pains not to be different.

There is truth in the fact that there are people who are singled out for being different, for not blending in like everybody else. They are picked out and looked down on because they are different. We even have names for people such as these, oddballs, geeks and many other such names. I could go on to list a good few more because at one time or another I have been called them.

I have gone as far as to stand in a room of almost a thousand people and made a speech for a particular course of action when the vote for and against was taken I was part of a group of five. So overwhelmingly out there on my own and wishing the ground would open out from underneath me. 

It did not help that in a few months the plea I had made turned out to have been a good one and the people I had appealed to made an about turn. I had once again like so often in my life been a minority of one. 

So it was with some sense of joy when one day somebody I held in the highest of regards invited me into his office and invited me to sit down and share a glass of wine with him. An even deeper sense of joy when he said to me, "Please never ever try to become like everybody else. Society and life need the individuals who prick our conscience and make us see things differently."

he pointed me towards some writing from people who inspired others to dare to be different and to stand firm.

goethe it was who said, " Nothing is more disagreeable than a majority For the majority consists of a few powerful people in the lead, rogues who are ever adaptable, weak people who are ever followers and then the rest who do not really know what they stand for. The crowd trundles after without the slightest notion of why or where they are going."  There have been many times in the past few months and year that I have thought that these are very true words.

So did my dream ever come true that I could wake up and be like everybody else? Of course not I have never learned that lesson and old age has not in anyway helped.

So I will rejoice in the words of Ibsen, " The majority is always wrong, the minority is rarely right." So do not be like everyone else. Think for yourself and rejoice in your individuality.

So I guess I will dream on and hope that some dreams might lead me to wonderful places, thanks to all my friends who will join me there. Yes, we will most surely be few in number and from time to time it may be uncomfortable.

But it will feel like life is worth it and there is so much more yet to learn. have a wonderful joy filled day.