The Nail that Sticks Out

I have often used the statement, “the nail that stands up gets hammered down” in an effort to justify never  backing down unless it was a strategic stand down. My rationale stems from my fear of being hammered down, again and again. Who would I be if I bowed down and obeyed the rules of the few that I consider to be abusive? Who would I be if I ignored that which I consider to be abusive? What if I turned around, picked up my belongings and walked away, would that solve the problem that I experience within and as myself? Nooooo...

I have often felt as though my only opportunity to live is right now and if I let someone take even the least of my rights away, I would be responsible for denying myself such rights. From there, I thought it would just be a matter of before I joined the crowd of hammered down nails ignoring their own rights and the rights of others. Sooner or later I would find myself jealous and angry towards those who weren't willing to accept and the rule of the few as the status quo. Would I then join the mobs for the burnings and the lynchings?

Or maybe I’ve got it all wrong; maybe the so-called rights that I’m holding onto are in reality just worthless baggage. My rights, his rights, her rights, what does it all amount to if I never get to live the life that I’m fighting for. Or is it that, for me the fight is how I’ve chosen to be because it’s what I prefer to do rather than  face myself  as the cause and the consequence?

I’ve learned some things along the way. The first and most important one is that I have to change myself in order to change how I view my reality. I’ve been doing this and now I’m beginning to realize seriously that that the reality as I thought I knew is will disappear. Perhaps that’s how it must be in order to create something new - out with the old, in with the new…