OutsidersHomes,families, schools, or gangs,teams, boards, and tribes,marriages, nationalities and occupations — these are some of the groups we use to define us. They are clusters of human beings with similar experiences, and values,and goals. Most would agree that everyone wants to be a member of one of them, a part of something. But then there comes a moment when we aren’t. Some of us were outsiders briefly, or for a day or a semester. perhaps we were outsiders until someone sat next to us,until our government allowed us to disappear back to our country, or until our family let us near home for the holidays. Others are cursed with minds and hearts that retain them outsiders forever, or some even like it that way. Some can’t recall ever having been an outsider,and so to them, outsiders don’t seem to exist.
My past and fallibility possess left me with a heart for the struggle and the struggling, and I often focus my energy on people who live on the margins of this remarkable spacious world and its various classifications. I’ve learned that these people,who often disappear unseen, sometimes possess the most to teach us about humanity and being alive — there is a raw wisdom and insight that comes from isolation. I’ve also learned that no matter how marginalized a person might be, and they almost always want to share a story of their experience. Today,we launch our fifth saga — Outsiders.
Please contribute your stories of being, observing, and embracing the outsider. If you explore tough enough,you’ll probably find a piece of yourself in every outsider story.- Dylan Hollingsworth
Source: cowbird.com