Of economics and other oddities..

I recently read this article which said that economists nowadays define progress, not as how well-off the people of a particular country have become, but by how much happier they have become..

Health has been replaced by 'Wellness' and surveys pertaining to one's state of emotional well-being - every couple of years, is the norm in that great weird, whim ridden country - the US of A!

Weird stuff is happening even on the political front in America, a Democrat Senator's being in hospital could result into a serious tipping of the scales..if he kicks the bucket, the marginal victory in the house of the Senate for the Democrats will also breathe its last..

On the one hand, the country boasts of nudist colonies and same sex marriages, while on the other, some of the Episcopal Churches break away because they do not endorse either a gay man, or a woman (straight or gay) to get ordained. God, if he exists, must lie in these contradictions..

Enough of all this boring stuff..I have been suffering from a writer's block all this while, but it is more of laziness actually. I know very well that given a blank sheet of paper (or a blank screen), words will flow like booze at IIM B and the rest, as they say, shall be history.

The reason why I have picked up the gauntlet today is to talk about this particular trend that has been part of my life from it's earliest..my association with people that nobody else wants to associate with..

In other words - weirdos, outcasts, the-much-hated and the so-called whackazoids find their way into my circle of friends..

(I strongly believe I am not hurting any sentiments out here. The people who have been referred to, are all too well aware of how the populace views them and they choose to not care. That is what makes them special in my eyes and draws me towards them. I consider such eccentricities to be their USP.)

These people intrigue me - what makes them tick, what makes the others hate them..are questions that I seek to answer - subconsciously..on a superficial level, I just like to talk to these people..and as early as I can remember, my dialogues with my friends seem to be peppered with phrases like "He is not really all that bad" or "We are really wrong about that person" etc etc..

(From this paragraph, it might seem like I talk to these guys because I am curious or because I pity them. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Pity is the last thing I feel for people who have the strength of character to be different. Like I said, they intrigue me, and I feel attracted towards them because they are not following the herd - be it in thought, speech or action..)

What is life, if not an exploration of the oddities and the eccentricites? Public opinion is the worst measure of a man's true worth and this thought is weird, coz if everybody did believe it, it wouldnt be true anymore :)

I hope I continue to meet many more of these outliers - they make life much more interesting and delighful..they have their own agendas, their individual 'Schools of thought' and way-side paths to tread upon..I too harbour these delusions about myself..on the road less travelled..that's where I want to be..