Who The Hell Cares? Really!

I have a firm belief in everyones right to do whatever the hell they want to do. I mean aside from killing a bunch of people or taking a deuce in a community punch bowl. I think you know where I'm coming from with this. I just think if someone wants to be different... let them be different. If they want to have purple hair, tattoo their body from head to toe, pierce their clit and run a chain from it to their nostril, that is their RIGHT! I am very big on everyone having the ability to make their own decisions. I don't believe their is really a right and wrong way to do things, only preconceived ideas of what right and wrong is.

Example: Johnny Fingers decides to do A. but Sally Smooth thinks it should be done THIS way. Johnny does the task his own way and it's accomplished just done in a different way than Sally would do it. Now, if you get to the same place and the task gets accomplished, then what's the fucking DIFFERENCE on how it's done? Because a book says so? The internet? A guide book? Eff that! If you can figure out how to do it in a way that is pleasing to you... and you get it done... do it. Who the fuck cares how anyone else does it. Johnny is getting it done... then we're done here. And if Sally doesn't like it... she needs to lighten up. If Johnny isn't telling her how to do things... then she shouldn't do it to Johnny.

As a society we are taught the right and wrong ways to do things. Dress, speak, act, walk, talk, believe. Who makes up these standards? Do I care to impress this person? Nah... not really. Am I on this planet to impress anyone? No! If something that I do impresses you, sweet. If you are not impressed... it really makes no difference to me. Many people say that but do they mean it? Well, I mean it like I am saying it. If you like what I am cooking... sit down and have a helping. If not... there a plenty of other restaurants in the area who would love to have your business. I've meet people who are bent on pleasing others. I mean to a fault. They feel all broken up inside if they don't do something the way someone else expects them to. I've been that person in my life and over time you come to realize that it's a fleeting concept. Impressing someone, for what? Acceptance? HA! We grow up believing we need to be accepted in some way by people deem worth of this acceptance. Family, friends, society, peers. WHY? People should spend more time being who they are and less time giving a FUCK what other people think. Sure, be polite and treat people as you would like them to treat you, but bending over backwards to be accepted is a no win battle. Because if you do meet this persons standards... you find you lose a lot of yourself in the process. And what's that? Ill productive. You be you... I'll be me... and if we like what each other has to offer, awesome. If not... you have your pick of everyone else in the world to choose from.

We must always strive to grow, adapt and change in ways that are productive and healthy... but being expected to be something for someone else is flat ludacris! We all talk about each other. It's human nature. Look what he did! Can you believe she's wearing that? And on and on! BUT... does it all really matter? If you walked up to someone and told them how they were being different and the turned around and did it the way you preferred... would you respect them? NO... you'd see them as a puppet. You'd LOSE respect for them. And respect is all we ask for in this world. Not to be the same... not to be popular or have the coolest shit. Just to be respected by your peers. And when it's all said and done and I look back on my life... I'd like people to respect me for being me. For doing what I choose to do with my life. For finding my rainbow and little piece of heaven.

I look around and try to figure out if I am consorting with people who do this. Yeah, I know people who judge other people and I have a name for them. Acquaintances! People who are real and down to earth and are really more worried about you being a good friend than if you are doing X, Y or Z to please them... those are people I call friends.

I spent a good part of my childhood being called names and judged because of what I didn't have and didn't do to make people like me... then I woke up and started doing things the way I like to do them. And do you know what? People started doing this really weird thing... they started RESPECTING ME! WOW... crazy concept.

So, to everyone out there who is playing the game by their own rules... respect. And if it's not the way I do it... shit... all the more respect. You are doing what you want with YOUR life. I respect that. There are no written rules of how anyone should live their life. This is not like football or waterpolo, it's life. Everyone has the right to make their own rules, should they choose to. There are laws but that's not a rule. You can choose to break a law and if you get caught breaking a law, you suffer the consequences but that was your choose. The Bible is not a set of rules. It's a book written by man about a human being who existed. Many of the things in the Bible are fact, many fiction but for some person to walk up to me and tell me that I am WRONG because I am not doing what THEIR bible tells them to do, ha... well that person better be ready for me to laugh in their face.

I am not asking anyone to believe with or agree with what I think or believe. Quite the contrary. I want you to have an opinion about something based on who YOU are and what YOU believe. If we differ... so be it. There is a pretty good chance that every person on this planet, no matter how similar, will disagree about a number of things. We are not clones or robots. We were built to have a complex mind with our own individual thoughts. Some the same as others, some different. That's part of being human. What I don't understand is those people who are bent on making everyone think and believe like they do. Or their religions believes. Or their political affiliation or sports team or... you get my drift. If someone wants to root for your sports team... then they can and you have another member in your group. We like to group up and be around people who think like we do. Understandably so. But don't PUSH your politics on people. If someone wants to find out about what you are selling, they'll stick around. If they aren't... become familiar with what the back of their head looks like.

When I was in high school during my senior year, the time came to make our senior t-shirt. Well, everyone had their little catch phrase for 1994. Out the door in '94. Blah blah blah. I saw what was offered for slogans and also t-shirt designs and I was not happy. Being an artist and at the time a member of the art department, I felt like I needed to throw my hat in the ring and see what I could do. Long story short, my design got picked and the slogan was something which pretty much left an impression on me the rest of my life. I remember where it came from too. While sitting in homeroom... I was trying to come up with a slogan that worked with my design. Something out of the ordinary and unexpected. Well, it came from a kid who sat next to me. This kid was very different. He had a mohawk, dressed different and pretty much walked and talked individuality. When he said the words, I knew they were the ones I wanted on my design and ones I wanted to represent me. "Dare to be Different". Perfect! So, my design was voted in and many of the people in school who prided themselves on running in their own little conformity groups and thought they were all the hot shit ended up buying and wearing my design as their senior t-shirt. And the day when all the seniors were asked to wear their senior shirt for the big group picture in the gym... I chuckled to myself. Now, every time I look at my senior year book and gaze upon that picture, I think about how I made a little bit of a mark. I was not on any sports teams... wasn't the top of my class and I did not date the head cheerleader, but I made an impression. I said what I had to say and everyone had to listen to it because it was on their t-shirt. My point isn't that I did good or I changed the minds of people... it's just that I did something 'different' and it made me feel good.

Through my life I've not always done what I wanted to do. I've compromised myself to a fault and given too much power to what people have thought of me and everything I preach against in this blog. But I have always made the effort to be an individual... not for the sake of being an individual but because it's who I am. I'm sure plenty of people might have their opinion about that, but I feel pretty confident in saying that I walk what I talk everyday of my life. I do my best to anyway.

In life, we often have disappointment. We are disappointed by something or someone or we do the disappointing. But each time that happens, I ask myself... what does it all really matter? Did I learn from my disappointment? Yes! When I did the disappointing, did others learn... perhaps, you'd have to ask them. But in the end... we are here to impress one person. One person who our decisions really effect most. One person who has to live with the decisions we make on a daily basis. That one person is ourselves. So, in an attempt to make a good impression on ourselves and to be all that we can be, for ourselves... we must always keep ourselves in mind when making choices in life. I'm not saying to be completely selfish... but to always consider how we want to do things. Because if we walk through life in an attempt to please everyone else, we find that we leave very little for ourselves.

I've seen people close to me sacrifice years and years of their lives in an attempt to make others happy. People they love and who they think love them back. Making all the sacrifices they can to make the other person happy. And as time moves on, they find out that those people did not do the same for them. And now they are left holding the their hearts in their hands asking why? Did I not do enough for that person? Did I not give enough? Love enough? Do enough to make them happy? But what they failed to realize was that the person who was being slighted was them... and the reason they were slighted was because they let themselves give too much of themselves to someone else and got nothing in return. No consideration for who THEY were. What their hopes and dreams were. Life is full of lessons and we have plenty of situations to learn from. So, be who you are and live your life how you want to and don't let anyone tell you that you are doing something wrong.

Just remember... people who follow all the rules in life are not the ones who are remembered. Those who push the limits... draw outside the lines... create their own persona and take the road less traveled are the ones we read about in history books. Do it the way you want to do it and let no one tell you you can't or that you are doing it wrong. And if you don't like what I have to say... GOOD... you are already expressing your own thoughts and opinions. :)

Keep on truckin'.