Weirdos...

I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine the other day, and as far as validity goes, I can't really attest to how much truth there is in his argument, but I decided to share it anyway since I found it rather intriguing. So it went something like this

Him: I have a question for you.

Me: Alright, shoot.

Him: What makes weirdos so...weird?

Me: Well I guess the fact that their behavior is abnormal when compared to the general population... why?

Him: I was thinking, and it really doesn't make sense. How many weirdos, for lack of a better word, do you know?

Me: (laughing) I know plenty. I was homeschooled, and now I go to a military academy.

Him: Exactly. If we deem a person weird because their behavior is abnormal compared to the general population, yet we know tons of people who's behavior is weird, is it really weird? Think about it. Almost ever social group you know has at least one person who everyone thinks is "weird". I would challenge you to name even one social group that you know of without one. In fact, the only place I could think of that might never have a social group is a fictitious television show, and even then, most shows have at least one weirdo in them. Take The Office, for example. There's Dwight Schrute, who is the token weirdo, but almost everyone has their own perks that make then appear quite weird. The only half-way normal ones are Pam and Jim, for a grand total of 2 normal people out of the 10+ office staff. So are the weird ones really normal?

Me: ...

Me: So are you telling me that those of us whom I consider to be normal are actually the weird ones?

Him: Well, not necessarily, but maybe there really isn't such a thing as weirdos.

So this got me thinking. Now, in my book, there still is and always will be weird people. There's no getting around that. But the conversation did make me think twice about how I treat other people, and if nothing else perhaps it challenged me to not be quite so judgmental when forming opinions about other people. Food for thought...

-Storm