International Weirdos Day

Personally I prefer the term eccentric in describing someone many would consider weird or odd.  Eccentric can be defined, when relating of a person or their behavior, as unconventional or slightly strange.  The reason why I believe eccentric is more befitting a person who doesn't quite fit the mold of the masses, is the key word unconventional.  To become unconventional is to think outside the box, or to act beyond the expected patterns of thought and behavior of the general populace, someone who lives on the fringe and chooses to not run with the pack, so to speak.  However, to boil it all down, it is still weird!  Eccentric simply sounds better and doesn't have the negative intonation or implication.  Regardless of how a person parses the situation, an anomaly is still occurring.  Roughly twenty years ago, a then co-worker gave me a valuable nugget of truth for advice.  She said, "Be true to yourself!"  This has stuck with me to this very day.  As a result, I refuse to conform to the common paradigm or stereotype of those around me, either culturally or socially.  I am almost always the odd man out, the person marching to the beat of a different drummer, and often this means I'm the drummer.  Doing so is such a freeing experience, and relieves the pressure of compromising my very identity as the creation God has made me to be.  So many people are desperate to fit in, trying to achieve acceptance, but at what cost?  Today, I celebrate the uniqueness of who I am.  The mold was broken when I was knit together and formed in my mother's womb.  Am I weird?  Probably!  Again, I prefer the adjective eccentric.  I challenge each of my readers to discover your identity and to live out the very character of who God has created you to be.  Today is International Weirdos Day.  Rejoice in your special-ness!