Being a misfit

I wanted to title this: "You know you're a misfit when.." because recently I've come to ponder the fact that Mr. Manilow is indeed different.

I came to realize Mr. Manilow's uniqueness recently when watching the making of the 70's CD. First clue-his fascination with the platform shoe suggesting it be used as a shoe planter and his collection of bobbleheads. Second clue-his intricately detailed explanation of the mixing of a song on his in-house studio equipment. Picture him sitting there for hours exchanging one note for the other, completely intranced in the entire process. Compulsion to that degree-incredibly unique.

Yesterday I was listening to the commentary on the Manilow Live DVD (thanks YBA for prompting me to pull this one out). He was talking about his song "All The Time" and how he's gotten more mail on that one song than any of his others. He also talked about how so many organizations have adopted it as their theme song. He was most surprised that MENSA was one of them. He said, "imagine, the smartest people in the world, and they feel like misfits". I guess it's universal. If you are different and unique, you feel like a misfit. You feel like you don't fit in, even if you might be one of the smartest or most talented men in the world of music.

So here's my new thesaurus synonyms for the word misfit: unique, special, talented, different, blessed, methodical, revolutionary, intellectual, perfectionistic, passionate and extraordinary. Not too shabby for a guy with platform shoes, a tight fitting sparkly shirt, lanky legs, "Sanjaya" hair and a catalog of music that would put even the coolest hep cat to shame.

From a grateful misfit herself,
Texas Fan

(Note: the photo is from Scooter Talk credited as being from the Showstoppers Tourbook-thanks :>)

If they don’t want to play with you...

...then find some other friends.

When my kids were younger, I must have said this at least once a week. The simple fact is that kids can be cruel. They don’t care about hurting your kid’s feelings or making them cry. And a group of kids can be even crueler. Sadly, I have found that these same kids grow up to be teens and later adults. Those same kids that tortured you as a child continue to torture people as adults. It doesn’t matter what their groups are called: cliques, “the in-crowd”, fraternities, “junior league”, society, power circle, the “rich and famous”, or even the cool ones. They exclude the ones who are not like them.

As a child, I was taught to share. My mother taught me to play with everyone. She told me to be kind to everyone and not exclude anyone from my play group. I wish I could say I always listened to my mother. But the reality is I have been guilty of excluding people for various reasons. None of which were kind or legitimate, and all of which I am not proud of. Sadly, my children’s generation seems to be more exclusive than when I grew up and the competition to fit in has become fierce.

The lines have been drawn politically to the point that the “red and blue” states can hardly be civil to one another. The social elite continue to snub their noses at the uncultured. The rich and famous can’t imagine how anyone could allow themselves to become homeless. Those with college educations thumb their noses at those with street smarts alone. The teens with the Abercrombie clothes talk smack about the kids that are forced to shop at Target or WalMart. The adults with the huge suburban homes and fancy cars don’t associate with the families from the other side of the tracks: those who they call “poor white trash”. Women with expensive clothing and jewelry and money to spend look down on those who are not as fortunate.

What can you do about these “friends” that don’t want to play with you? The real question for me is why do you want to play with them at all? Why would anyone want to be that shallow, opinionated, callous, uncaring and insensitive? Why would anyone want to be accepted into a group that sets its values as money, power, prestige and the right address? You can strive your entire life to be accepted by these people, but when push comes to shove, they will never be friends. They let you play with them when it’s convenient or beneficial for them. They will never sacrifice any of their needs, wants or desires to meet you halfway or even try and see things from your point of view. They will never change. They have been that way since they were children and will continue to set their values and goals as they relate to the group they belong to.

My advice to anyone in this situation is to find some new “friends”. Find some friends that have the same values as you. Find some friends that are kind to those around them. Find some friends that sacrifice and give for others. Find some friends that speak to you in love and compassion, not judgment and condemnation.

You might find as Barry says, "...you're not alone."

Texas Fan

All the wasted time...

You know how it goes. You think when you're young that you have your whole life ahead of you. You have dreams and you have goals. You plan things out the best you can and then you wake up one morning at 40, 50 or 60 and ask yourself where has the time gone? What happened to those years and are there enough left to find the dreams that you might have lost along the way?

My answer: it's never too late. I read a story once of a woman who received her law degree at 75. It was something she had always wanted to do. So after her kids were grown and her husband passed away, she went back to school. It took her ten years, but at 75 she walked across that stage at Harvard to a standing ovation. Now that's the kind of perserverance I want to have.

For many of us in the world of Manilow, those dreams include the 90 minutes of joy we get after listening to the "dreamer" himself. As he so aptly puts it.."what a life!" He inspires us to go for it and to not regret a single moment of the time we have left.

"All the time, all the wasted time... all the years, just waiting for a sign. To think I had it all. All the time." I'm not going to waste another moment of this life I've been given. I have dreams and I'm grabbing hold of them and "spreading my wings". After all, "with all there is, why settle for just a piece of sky?"

Carpe Diem,
Texas Fanilow