One of the things that depresses me most is the tendency to write off whole swathes of humanity by sticking a label on them and dismissing them. I sat on the train this week and two guys, a Scotsman and an American with a comb-over, spent the whole journey doing just that. Huge numbers of people were judged, given a label and dismissed.
Here’s an example “I work with medics. I know what they’re like. They’re only interested in one thing. Money.”
Here’s another “Everyone below the Mason-Dixon Line is an in-breeder”
Want more? No, I didn’t think you would.
So here’s a counter to all that. There is a beautiful piece of journalism in today’s Guardian about people with Down’s Syndrome. Read right down to the last paragraph – it’s the clincher! I meet people who says things like this every week. It never ceases to humble me.
And here’s another counter. Sugar Mouse in The Rain sent me a link to a video on youtube. (By the way, go see his blog. It’s lovely and he’s a lovely man) Here’s the video –
Thank you Sugar Mouse
Heroes Not Zombies 
Thanks Bob. That’s very kind of you.
[…] you because they’ve stuck you in some pigeon hole? You know the kind of thing. I mentioned in another post sitting on the train recently next to two men who spent the whole journey dismissing huge swathes […]
Thank you for this wonderful video. My wife came up with this gem, “It’s not easy being yourself.”
This was in reference to a conversation about a magazine article I wrote that took a humorous approach to business. Pretty much everything else in the publication was serious and a little on the self-conscious side. I admitted to being nervous.
The older I get, the more it makes sense to just be myself. If growing old is not for sissies, being yourself is a step out into the dark after decades of trying to be like other people. The reward is genuine confidence. Although that, like all things, is temporary.