The Exception

A Story by Ash

I kid you not, this is just a collection of my thoughts as I was watching my gym class at school play.

We are always the exception.

Us people have never failed to make ourselves the exception in all things. We believe that all people are different, but this leads us to the darken ditch of envy and jealousy. An endless abyss of greed and self loathing that is simple for any passerby to fall into. It's a trap set by our own minds, because, as life has shown me, one's own mind is perhaps the greatest, yet unspeakable, threat. Furthermore, placing more emphasis on the point at hand, we have always divided ourselves from the rest of the world. We must be our main priority, and this, of course, is not an offensive virtue in the slightest. People will come and pass through in life, yet you will always be left with one individual: One's self. In the beginning of time, we had to make our own person of top priority in order to survive this strange place. Yet now, in modern life, the role has been turned around. All others must be a priority over ourselves, the other end of an extreme. Of course, I'm not trying to generalize or summarize others complex experiences and emotions which can hardly be put into words. I've seen first hand the hypocrisy we as people have in relation to others. For example, we are quick to encourage those who are in emotional distress to "let it out" and allow us to comfort them. On the flip side, if we are the ones in the distress, we are also quick to judge ourselves if we feel the need to have the comfort of another human. We throw the infamous "I'm fine" to others regardless of the fact that we are decaying from the inside out. Why is it that it's acceptable, encouraged even, for others to reach out, but not ever applicable for ourselves? Trust me when I say that I have been trying fruitlessly to find the answer to this, but never to any avail.

I believe I have found at least a portion of an answer, though.

There is some reason, one that I cannot explain fully, that we make ourselves an exception. I knew what an eating disorder was. I knew what anxiety was. I knew what depression was. I knew that people, and may God bless them, struggled with these horrid things. What I never thought possible was that I, myself, would ever have any of these disorders. Yet I do, so why did I immediately make myself the exception? Why was I so quick to assume that I was overreacting, making more of it, when I was just as quick to defend those and validate those with mental illnesses. Why?

I do have some theories, while they are only my hypotheses, at the very least they give me somewhat of a definitive answer. I am a person that will never stop, someone who will turn every rock, to find the answer to my question. My answer: I will always make myself the exception. I always have, and I dare say that many, many others have as well.

The truth of the matter, however, is that we aren't very different. When infants are brought into the world, they are exactly the same. It doesn't matter if they have dark skin, light skin, are big or small. They all see this new world, so big, and cry. Now as they grow, its their experiences that shape them. Children are impressionable. They learn from those around them. And this, in turn, can be a wonderful blessing but also a horrible, horrible thing.

Perhaps the greatest strength one can have is to defy our minds. To allow ourselves to ask for the hug. To allow ourselves to accept our problems, but also our values.

Because, in my eyes, no one is the exception.