Why It’s Time to Listen to the Weirdos

I have never fit in anywhere. I did not fit in at school, where I had trouble making friends and was bullied for being different. I did not fit in at university, where the focus on socialising and drinking was just not me at all. I have never fit in at work because I won’t play the game and cannot stop myself from challenging the endless stream of corporate nonsense.

For a very long time, I was deeply upset that I could not fit in. I wanted to be part of the crowd, to be like everybody else, to make progress and be popular. I hated it when people described me as odd, weird, and difficult.

But no more. This is who I am, and what’s more, I think we need more people who are happy to be different and refuse to fit the mould that the world wants us all to fit into.

Nobody can look at the world around us and say we are in a good place. This is where years of everyone conforming and “playing the game” have got us. Increasingly serious problems, deep inequalities and systemic injustice, leaders are more interested in soundbites and their own careers than substance and making things better.

We need change like never before, which means valuing those who think and see things differently. More of the same will only make things worse.

I am not saying that I have all the answers or even any of the answers. But I will not stop asking questions to try and find them. I will not stop challenging injustice because others get upset when I rock the boat. I am not going to accept the lip service approach to diversity and inclusion when, in reality, everything is about maintaining the unjust status quo.

I am proud to be different and weird, and I do not want to fit in. I want to be me, who cannot tolerate injustice and cruelty and wants straight answers to questions. I want to see real action on problems, not pretty words and strategies, while nothing actually changes.

Everything is in our hands. We can make a better world, we can ensure that kindness prevails, we can solve the massive problems that we face. But only if we embrace the different and the weird, only if we stop ostracising anyone who does not fit the mould or play the game.

We need more weirdos and we need to listen to them. More of the same will just not change anything.

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