I

"Love thine Ego as thyself. Because that's what it is."
-theme of Anthem, Ayn Rand

The daylight has finally gone
A few stars can be seen
Shining around the crescent moon
Nice night out, I think
As I walk down the street alone
With no one but me
Myself
And I
Walking with an unbroken stride
Holding my head up high
Fearing nothing
I walk past groups of them
Seeing them from the corner of my eye
Seeing them look at me
Seeing them trying to hide the snickering and muttering amongst themselves
I've been around long enough
To know what it is that they find so humorous
They laugh because I am what they might call a loner or a freak
They laugh because I am not surrounded by others
And thus I am a target for their ridicule
Since they are all together and I am only one alone
And to them, that's funny
Because to them, the individual is nothing
Self-esteem matters not, as long as others hold you in high esteem
Or at least make it look that way
That's how they are
The universal flock
They think they know me
They think they know it all
But I think I know better
I know how it really is
They don't understand me
Because I know who I am
I like who I am
And I'm not afraid of who I am
They don't understand any of this
So, deep down inside, they fear it
The "evil" notion that individuality is wrong
Was branded into their subconsciousness long ago by the similarly misguided people who brought them up
The ones who hid behind hollow assertions that they weren't just sheep
Just as their children do now
And so they use their petty laughter and empty talk
In an attempt to conceal their fear
Each of them
Afraid to think
That they might just be different from their peers
And thus, others might reject them
Because others might think they're weird
As if that's really such a bad thing
But little do they know
That they're all suffering from the same disease, and they hide that from each other too
I know this
Though it shouldn't really concern me
So I just glance at them
Hoping for their sake that they'll someday see that being yourself is really a wonderful thing
And I keep on walking
Nice night out

--June 16-18, 1999; rev. 10.17.2000