What Will People Think

Minneapolis  Skyline

 "What will people think or say?" It's something I've never worried about. I used to be a Seventh-Day Adventist and observed Saturday as my sabbath and didn't eat pork, and shellfish, and shunned alcohol, and caffeine. For the most part, It was a healthy life style but I stuck out like a sore thumb in a mostly catholic town with other protestants scattered about. I constantly was having to defend my religious views, not to mention defend myself from bullies, including teachers.

Not only, did I learn to argue my beliefs, but something happened to me, I learned that I didn't have to follow the crowd. I learned that being different is ok. I learned to think for my own and that I didn't have to confrom. I was ok accepting myself.

My issue, however, was that while I yearned for acceptance, I wasn't willing to do the same. That was a failure of my religion and my beliefs. You see my friends accepted me as I was. It wasn't up to me to convert them. If you want acceptance, be accepting. You don't have to conform, be you. Don't be judgemental. It's not good enough to be saved and live in a world with no friends. Practice your ethics and be lead by your inner compass. Let your light shine, don't snuff it out by your blind self-righteousness.