Philosophy

And often youth driven. As youths seek to individuate, they find that 'something else' that distinguishes them.

I also think At heart, we are social creatures and being placed unwillingly outside 'normal' parameters can be very painful.

There are those ARE willing, who take a strong stance against or for something, and need a way to call attention to it. What better way than to break out of normal patterns? This isn't always the optimal way, or even the most effective, but it is *a* way, in a giant population.


I took a psych class once-- I think it was a 101, I remember the instructor saying that 'normal' on a line, had 65% of the middle, on either side of that line the norms went from slightly odd to a complete breakdown of what would be considered normal human parameters. I always remembered that because I found it interesting, and of course, I wondered where I would fall in that parameter.

Then there are these people, my favorite of all, I find them in professions from engineers to poets, from situations of wealth to the homeless;


"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."

Henry David Thoreau