Think Different, Think Tyler

"I think, therefore I am."- William Shakespeare

"I think different, therefore I am different."- Me

I remember walking into school one day my Sophomore year and there was a banner hanging from the wall. An older kid who shares my first name was running for student government. The banner was just plain white with his campaign slogan on it in black. It wasn't very eye catching but something about it attracted me. There on the wall in front of me, was a simple phrase that accurately and profoundly summed up a lot about me. It said, "Think different, think Tyler."

Think different, think Tyler? How wonderful! It was almost as if the world was acknowledging me as an individual. Now everyone would see that the answer to the question, "Why does he do that?" is simply because the actual thought processes of my brain are different! Now I can explain to people that we're just not wired the same! The paradox of course, is that I can't make people see things my way for the very same reason I can't make myself see things their way.

I know that it bothers me that my friends can't figure out why I do certain things. It bothers me too. I can imagine how they must feel because I know that I've tried to get my mother to understand things painfully obvious to me and unfortunately she will never grasp them. But at some point I figured out that that's how my friends must feel when they can't figure me out. That led me to a simple realization. We're all just different. It's like A Pimp Named Slickback said, "Some niggas can't cross bridges; you can't hit a bitch." The logical conclusion is to try and make the world see my perception of it.

But then there are the absolutes. Such as, there are two types of people in this world... People who say that I'm attractive and people who lie about it. Just kidding! But there are people who look at a forest and figure out how to live there without disturbing it and people that level it so they can build a suburb.

If you moved into an unclaimed valley would you build a house near the river so you had water to drink or would you change the river's course so that it went past your house? Do you change the world around to suit your needs or change your needs to suit the world around you?

Until next time, True Believers...
The bottle is empty
And the well is dry
July 2008

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