The Misfits - The Loose Cannons

The Misfits – The Loose Cannons

 

They (you know – the they everyone talks about) say:  We want creativity and innovation.  They say it – but do they mean it?  My experience has shown that these “they” people actually don’t understand, don’t like and actually fear those of us who don’t quite fit into “the box” – or the mold that they think people ought to fit into.

I mentioned to some women I had known since we were kids that when my nieces came out to visit me I “played Auntie Mame” and took them to nice places, gave them a taste of experiences that they didn’t get at home.  I told them proudly because I really liked what I was able to give the two girls I love so much.  Yet, much to my shock, the phrase was thrown back at me as though I had confessed to being Jake (Jane?) the Ripper.

Remember saying You played Auntie Mame my Florida friend asked with sarcasm and venom in her voice” when I wondered why she and our other friend were being so nasty to me.

Clearly, I didn’t fit her idea of the norm.  I never do!

Think Different:  Apple 1997 Ad:  As black and white images of famous iconoclasts filled the screen (Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Richard Branson, John Lennon, Amelia Earhart, Muhammad Ali, Lucille Ball, Bob Dylan, and others) actor Richard Dreyfuss voiced the narration:

Here’s to the crazy ones.  The misfits.  The rebels.  The trouble-makers.  The round pegs in the square hole.  The ones who see things differently.  They’re not fond of rules.  And they have no respect for the status quo.  You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.  About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.  Because they change things.  The push the human race forward.  And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.  Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.  (From Gallo, Carmine, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs.)

In today’s “politically correct” work environment no one uses the term crazy.  Instead the favorite epithet is ‘loose cannon.”  It’s a name that’s been thrown at me a few times.  Yet, I’m not.  I don’t do outrageous things.  I don’t break the law. 

Enough about me.  I offer you these examples because I haven’t received permission to tell you about some of the ugly things that were said and done to friends of mine and people I know who were outstanding in one way or another. 

Apparently you are allowed to be one stand deviation from the mean – and maybe even two – but for the sake of not scaring others – never be three standard deviations out.