In December I will talk about my Left of the Dial philosophy on Tuesdays. Starting today I will give an idea of what I’m talking about.
It goes back to a quotation from the 1990s: “The only power a person has over you is the power you give him.” This too: “The only power a diagnosis has over you is the power you give it.”
Having the courage to be your own person and do your own thing isn’t easy. People in the world who covet being normal–and most people do–are not kind to those of us who are different. We’re shamed, made to feel guilty if we don’t toe the line; if we don’t conform to how others think we should be, act and live. Most likely, those of us who do our own thing threaten others who are secretly envious that we’ve opted out of “the rat race,” that we’ve dared to be ourselves.
The Left of the Dial ethic signals that we can be proud of who we are and celebrate ourselves.
Michelle T. Johnson, the author of The Diversity Code, is quoted to the effect that honoring individuality is the highest form of achieving diversity.
It starts when we dare to be ourselves in a world of fake people; in a word of people competing with each other and pretending to be someone they’re not to get ahead
You don’t have to act trashy to win at the game of life. You can compete in traditional arenas with other people, if you want to and choose to. Yet whatever you do, you don’t have to sell your soul.
Cheers.
Left of the Dial 