You hear it all the time, that people from another state are ruining this one. Or maybe people from another country are doing something to the detriment of your area. As someone that’s been tall and various sizes weight wise, I think I have a reason to feel like an outsider in many instances myself. At least when growing up, if you weren’t a prototypical male in my school, you were a target.
Now I can understand something like being annoyed people from a neighboring state are buying up the properties to rent them out without knowing the area whatsoever. They don’t even live in the community they are making money off of, meaning that the money is going to another one’s economy. While that is obviously bad, and virtually what many companies like big retail chains do as well, I think that outsiders in the form of people are worth being considered.
One big flaw in the city I’m in is that a highway goes through it and people don’t want to do any marketing or interfacing with people from out of town. While this is a prime area for growth in terms of making money, people seem to think that outsiders will cause problems. Meanwhile, the city crumbles as there are no big changes. The definition of insanity.
As a big and tall person, you tend to get through the bullying and learn to be more comfortable with yourself. Eventually the words coming at you don’t hold much weight but growing up they do sting, a bit. However, being an outcast simply over something like a body type or where you come from is not fair to the person being put in that role. I’ve been the black sheep for a long time in the family, simply because as an outcast I have developed a different understanding of reality.
After being homeless a few months a couple of times, I realized that anyone could be living in any situation and you’d never know if they were a smart person or just someone that’s spending their days doing crime. The old saying, don’t judge a book by its cover is something many need to take to heart. The gossip you generally hear about someone is always growing new parts as the story evolves, but ask the person with the main role in said gossip and they’ll tell you different.
We have to spend more of our lives collaborating instead of building walls. If we ever want to evolve past whatever you want to call what we’re doing now, then accepting that outsiders bring new perspectives is one positive step towards that.
-Brandon (Click THIS LINK to order this 1993 Doom Cover shirt off of Amazon from the big and tall video game shirts, or order whatever else after the link and support the site!)
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