Standing out to fit in

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Standing out to fit in

Right. I’m rolling up my sleeves. I’m getting my rant on. Haven’t done it for a while, so batten down the hatches, humans! Basically, it’s the hottest day of the year (so far) and I’m feeling as wilty as a week-old lettuce in a convenience store window.

And why right now?

Because I want to tell you how amazing you are.

If nobody has told you that today, then this is me saying it to you right here..

Labels are everywhere. More so than ever at the moment. Even though society bangs on about “break the boundaries“, “think outside the box“, “don’t be a label”, yet you humans are still pushed to seek them out. I get it. It’s who you are. It’s your identity. And that’s priceless.

I think that’s why there is this tendency to want to be individual, but still have a label attached. It’s been puzzling me over the past century.

Picture the situation a person has, say, 90% of the characteristics of one particular label but the other 10% belong somewhere else. The cool thing is, that person can then find another label, or – which is wonderful for the evolution of language – create a brand new label for themselves.

Some people find labels comforting. An end to angst and turmoil.

A sense of belonging.

Sadly, some people love labels because it can sometimes be a get-out-of-jail-free card. I have seen humans that seek out labels to mitigate their behaviour. “It’s not my fault I slapped you in the face and called you names – it’s because I am/have [fill in the blank].”

Even worse, there are some humans out there desperate to label others in order to be horrible to them. Or to use people’s labels against them. I’ve lived long enough to see what happens to bigoted creatures like that. It’s never good. If you find yourself in the company of such horrors, please get away and find someone and somewhere safe.

But on the other hand…

Labels can be our friends.

Still other people spend their whole lives trying to find a label that fits. Just to have a feeling of knowing themselves. We all have one label that is ours – our name. That can also sometime make us fit in or stand out, whether or not we choose it for ourselves.

Do you want to be unique? Or do you want to hide, to be one of the crowd? Either is absolutely fine. Do you want to be you? Honesty is everything. As for me, whether it’s because I was born in a different era but my name is unusual and it is the result of History – of mine and history in general. Is there a specific vampire name?

Like, why do they all seem to be called Vlad or Carmila?

I wouldn’t know. I couldn’t tell you that. But yes, my name is unique. I see people with similar names to mine but not identical. Are there other labels that apply to me (apart from ‘vampire’, obviously)? Yes. I could do with a whole forest of flagpoles in my garden if that were the case!
Like that old saying says – why fit in when you were born to stand out?

My answer to that would be: because I’m a vampire. I don’t particularly want to stand out. I don’t especially want to have to move again for the foreseeable future. But you’re human. How do you feel about this? Give it a think.

Go you! Team Human. Yay!