Life Lesson # 232 ~ You’re Not a Glitch

'If you're lucky enough to be different...don't change." ~ Unknown

Have you ever simply felt out of place? And I'm not just talking about feeling different or being mismatched. We're all incompatible at times. No, I'm speaking of something far more complex. Why this subject? Why today? Well I've been doing some thinking lately. See, I'm not remarkable or extraordinary. I haven’t broken the Internet with my ideas, style or popularity. However, I'm not the garden-variety either. I'm complicated, perplexing even and under no circumstances am I typical. Never have been, never will be. You know the type. You may very well live outside the rule yourself. So yes, today, I'm talkin'  the nitty gritty of being a divergent soul. Not some made up flamboyant show and tell reality show lifestyle either. If you’re truly a divergent mind you know what it's really like to live independent of convention and mainstream. And I've got three words for you...it's not easy.

Thinking about it, I'm much obliged to my mama and daddy ‘cause they taught me right from the get go having courage meant being myself. Even in a world hell bent on shaping me into a cookie cutter version of everyone else. And so, I grew up snug as a bug in a rug on the outside looking in. See my mama made sure Romans 12:6 stuck like glue. "God in HIs kindness gave each of us different gifts."  Know what this means y'all? I can be me, fully and completely. No one else has to get or even accept me. See God created me, just as He created you apart from the factory frame. He forged each of us uniquely. I don't know about you, but I'm thankful as all get out for the distinct and individual code God programed in me. And for the world inside this arcade we live in, Christopher Poindexter’s words are a beacon. "It is ever so beautiful to be strange. To do things differently than others. To see things in a rare light. To me, that is such gold to carry.”

Life for me has always been an adventure. Like Vanellope, in Wreck it Ralph, I've always stood out, but in a weird, offbeat and peculiar kind of way I suppose. To many folks I was a glitch growing up. Just as I am today. I don't go with the flow. I've accepted I'm different and the fact I have learning disabilities. I have no desire whatsoever to fit in. I mean think about it. Fitting is downright boring, don’t you think? Personally, I’d rather be fiercely myself than some xerox copy of anyone else. I'm a nerd and a bookworm. I like to write and sing, to create and cook instead of watching TV. And yes, I'm a teacher too in spite of the label. This is my point, labels are just that...cheap stickers meant to fall off in the wash.

I guess I should start off by saying I grew up differently than most of the kids on my block. First, my parents were involved in ministry my whole life. Second, I was blessed with chronic illness. And last, but not least I saw things differently. Way differently. Heck, the truth is I felt things differently. My imagination was a force to be reckoned with on any given day. I was the oddball, the girl with freckles and wild red hair. I wasn't stylish, nor did I care to be. Pippi Longstocking was my hero. Truthfully, I rather liked things the way they were. After all, Charles Baudelaire wasn't off. "The beautiful is always bizarre." He was right you know? And my mama always told me so.

Tell you what. How about we go back a ways. I'm talking all the way back to the days when I was running around with pigtails and mismatched socks and towels tied around my neck as capes. Ya, I was the girl with her nose stuck in a book, jumping off her bed with the firm belief she could fly, watching H.R. Pufnstuf, Land of the Lost and Sigmund and the Sea Monster every chance she got. Yes, I was that weirdo. I lived a lot like Alice, in a world of my own surrounded by books, comics, and my imagination. I was odd to be honest. Kinda like Vanellope in Disney's Wreck it Ralph I never really fit in with the crowd. I was then and, in many ways, still am a free-spirit, sassy, a bit quirky and feisty if not defiant in some ways. I'll stare down a problem until I know how to fix it. I felt connected from the moment I heard Vanellope say, "Look wise guy, I know I'm a racer. I can feel it in my code." You see I may not have known why I was different coming up, but I understood deep down I was programed this way. Like Ralf and his buddies say, "There's no one I'd rather be than me."

Real life’s hard, right? No way around its curves. Let's face it. Nothing about life is remotely easy. I don't care what kind of console you own or strategy you think you have going. Doesn't really matter the controller you're using either. Life is complicated. Period. I've learned this though. It may be blowing up a storm, but if you're grounded in who you are and in who God created you to be, your code glitching or broken won't get in your way. See, in spite of societies-imposed restraints, you can be anything or become anyone you want to be. It's in your code... just like its in mine. We're fruit loops in a cheerio’s run factory.  

So, let’s get real here, why don’t we. Eventually we all meet our own King Candy head on. I’m bettin’ a vision’s already come to mind, hasn’t it?  Manipulative, ruthless, attention seeking, pompous and yes, territorial rulers of the arcade world, right? These folks who hold vendettas against us rule bending types for one simple reason...we’re not like them. This is the thing ya’ll, if we stay too long inside these nilly-wafer virus defunct worlds, eventually our own codes are hijacked too. The only way to get loose of a cy-bugs reprogramming claws is not to go Turbo with them. See the Turbos of this world only want us to assimilate as they rule the arcade. And if we don’t go along with their devious plans, we’re labeled a glitch. Unfazed by our banishment they think we’re permanently dethroned and erased. Fortunately for us, these Arcade Kings fail to realize their tampering only strengthens and enhances our so-called glitches.

Just remember this. You're not a glitch. You're coding is unique. Doesn't matter who the world says you should be. What matters is who you are. No one can delete your code, erase your memories, replace your perfect design or keep you from crossing the finish line...with one exception, you. It's like Meryl Streep says, "What makes you different or weird ---that's your strength. " And this is the unmistakable truth embedded in today's Life Lesson #232 ~You're Not a Glitch.

So, listen up kiddos. On the days when you're questioning your own existence, keep in mind even Vanellope had doubts. Everyone around her not only thought but treated her like a mistake, as if she shouldn't have even existed. Her dreams of becoming a real racer were close to being wiped out until she discovered the truth.... she was born to race, and to cross the finish line a champion, And so are you. Remember what Atticus said, "Your different was your beautiful all along." So just be you. Live life on your terms. Dream big, Jump off the cliff. Be curious and quirky, odd and peculiar. Stay away from normal and embrace the fact you're an outcast. It means you're doing something right. Most of all, be thankful you're you.

Now let's get off to those races, shall we? Our Candy Karts and the finish line are waiting.

"We must be courageous enough to be different. " ~ Elaine S. Dalton

~Merida Grace