Run in the Opposite Direction

This piece was originally published on Substack on May 23, 2023.

What bothers me most is that so many people are out here insisting they’re better than whatever is slightly worse than themselves.

White people saying they’re tired of white people, I’m guilty of that one.

Women saying they’re tired of men, except for the one they let abuse them personally. I’m not a woman, but I’ve been in that situation more times than I’d like to recount.

Christians insisting those other Christians aren’t real Christians, or that instead they’re the true “followers of Christ.” I was in that camp for a long time, too.

“I’m not like other girls.”

“We are not the same.”

“Not all men.”

We all want to see ourselves as not representative of the rules that feed the stereotypes.

Yet if we were really different from the groups we come from, we wouldn’t have to reassure people on the internet that we’re the exception.

It would be obvious.

It’s not enough to try and cut back. It’s not enough to shuffle over to the left begrudgingly in certain company.

You’ve got to run in the opposite direction when you see smoke on the horizon.