Have you ever looked at someone and thought to yourself: huh. Something’s a little off.
Nothing bad, really, just … different.
Not quite right. Not quite normal.
Maybe they’re a little eccentric in some way.
Perhaps you’ve said to yourself (or, *cough*, your spouse) “well, they’re certainly an ‘odd duck‘”.
Have I got news for you.
The concept of being “not quite right”, “not normal”, or “a little odd” is all based on invalid comparisons to a nonexistent standard.
There’s no such thing as some absolute applies-to-everyone “normal”. At best there’s “average”, I suppose, but even that implies only some statistical center from which we all deviate.
In other words we’re all half a bubble off plumb in some aspect of our life, and all in our own, unique ways.
I can pretty much guarantee there is someone out there — perhaps a friend, an acquaintance, a stranger, or even a family member — who’s looked at you and said to themselves “Well, they’re certainly an odd duck.” You’re just being you. There’s nothing you’d recognize as warranting a second thought.
To them something about you is just a tad off-kilter. A little off. Not bad, just different. Not quite right. Not normal.
Before you judge others on their eccentricities, remember that you have your own, whether you recognize it or not.
Embrace the unusual waterfowl, in yourself, and around you.
We’re all odd ducks.
Quack. (It had to be said.)
“We’re all odd ducks.”
Ab-so-freaking-lutely. The way I put it is, “Everyone’s weird. And if someone isn’t, well, that’s weird.”
And may it always be so, because homogeneity is exceptionally boring.
My best friend and I are both railfans. We like watching, learning about, and riding full-sized passenger trains. This was quite popular in the middle of the last century but today, especially in the middle of the country where we live, not quite as much. But that doesn’t stop us.
When I explain this interest to friends, I usually get a response that skews towards model railroads (the kind kids had with some growing up to have Really Cool Model Layouts). But that’s not our interest. So yeah, I get an “odd duck” response to that (and, ahem, to other things in my life).
Fortunately, my friend and I have discovered over time a LOT of other people enjoy watching and riding trains, to the point of knowing a lot more about them than we do. That has led to our being secure in our odd duckness, because there’s always an odder duck out there somewhere.