What does it mean to belong? why should someone want to? Is it vital to our survival?
Recently a friend of mine told me that he felt that no matter where he is, who he is with, he is always on the outside. Never quite fitting in, no matter where he went. This came as a shock to me because he always seemed to be quite social but when i thought about it, what he said made sense. He was always just slightly off, but then again thats what made him who he was. When I heard him tell me about this, I apologized to him and told me he is always welcome with me, imagining how much that must hurt. But then he rebuked me and said he didn't want to be. What he said shocked me. "What if I'm not meant to belong ? What if I shouldn't feel welcome? What if i'm not supposed to fit in?" Suffice to say, I was speechless. That is what human existence is all about. Finding ones place among the crowd, with people who you can feel you belong to. That is why man forms tribes, why nations are created, and why we defend these establishments of our belonging. But as I walked away from him, I realized that I want to be him. To separate myself from the group and look on them and see in which way i can help. Here he had it all figured out, while i was still struggling to find out what i wanted. I can never be him though. I wish i could though, how i wish i could simply look from the outside.
