Celebrating Difference

Last week we talked to Andrew Solomon about differences. We are going to continue that topic today as we explore what it means to an individual to be different. One of the complaints clinicians commonly hear from clients is this feeling they carry of being alien in their families of origin. This would not be true it their differences were accepted, even celebrated, by family. Unfortunately, not only does family reject us for being different but so does the social milieu in general. Children who feel the most rejected for their difference are often those who are selected by bullies for bullying. In fact, we even talk about difference in terms of its feeling: "feeling different" has become a way of describing that feeling of rejection. But what if "feeling different" could simply mean "celebrating me?" It is fascinating that in America we formulated a country out of the need for freedom to be different and then set out to obliterate it entirely. Let's talk about that today.