On Being A Square Peg In A Round Hole

America is degenerating ever deeper into lunacy and a civil war that is probably long overdue; the latter is necessary to purge the former. In times like these it's fun to step back and reflect on your own life and what makes you unique. Everyone is unique to some extent, though some more than others. In my case, for example, I'm convinced I was born in the wrong century or perhaps even on the wrong planet. Maybe some of you out there feel the same way. Here are a few reasons I consider myself a square peg in a round hole:   

• I don't understand people's obsession with sex. Yes, sex is enjoyable, but so are a lot of other things in life. To define yourself as a "sexual being" strikes me as just as crazy as defining yourself as a "wine being" or a "chocolate being."  

• On a related score, I don't understand people's fixation on superficial attributes when considering relationships. Men are fixated on women who are young and gorgeous, while women are fixated on men who are tall and popular. I don't want to be in a relationship with someone whose soul doesn't attract me, and that has nothing to do with those other traits.

• It baffles me how people can say they will do something, but when the time comes they don't do it and act as if nothing happened.

• Whenever I witness or hear about somebody doing something obnoxious, dishonest, or cruel and getting away with it, I find it deeply upsetting regardless of whether it has anything to do with me. 

• Although I'm right-handed, I hold the pen toward me like a left-handed person.

• I don't understand why people ride around on ATVs for fun. What's fun about driving a miniature automobile that has no windows or roof?

• I hate the wildly popular show Modern Family. The characters engage in a constant and obnoxious stream of sarcasm, with no hint of the sincerity that I would want in a family.

• The concept of charisma is meaningless to me. I've never met or witnessed anyone whom I instinctively wanted to believe or follow. I gauge all people the same way: on their merits, not their appeal.

• I love earning money just so that I can sock it away and save it. The joy most people get when buying a new TV or car, is the joy I feel when I steadfastly refrain from buying anything. 

• I've never had the desire to mock or belittle people unless they did something to deserve it. The way people casually fling insults or backhanded compliments at friends, family members, or strangers strikes me as petty and rude, but it's pretty much universal. I suspect it's a noxious form of egalitarianism.

• It seems everyone takes the world as it happens to be right now for granted, without ever pausing really to question it. A typical American today thinks it's perfectly normal for there to be an income tax, forced wealth re-distribution (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.), undeclared wars, public schools, zoning laws, "hate" crimes, and universal suffrage. All of these things are actually quite radical, but nobody cares because their perspective is narrow and confined solely to personal experience. I do care, but it's often pointless or even provocative for me to voice these kinds of concerns. 

• I've always been excellent at pretty much anything I do, whether it was soccer, volleyball, water sports, snow skiing, weightlifting, pool, chess, ping-pong(!), academics, language, public speaking, debating, researching, writing, starting and running my own business, etc. But the one area where I'm awful is people, and ironically that seems to matter more than anything else.