to my friends considering the path less traveled by

So someone you love tells you that what you believe is wrong.

What are you going to do about it?

You could agree with them. You could spare their feelings, keep them close to your heart, and sacrifice your beliefs (and your sanity!) to keep them happy.

You could tell them that you're not wrong, and that they have no right to tell you what you believe. You might shut them out, and, if they have the authority to do so, they could hurt you, punish you, and do everything in their power to make sure you regret questioning them.

Nothing works in the end. You have to decide what works for you.

I can't tell you what that is. But what I can tell you is that what worked for me, and what has worked for many great people in the past, is blocking out distractions. Morality is such a subjective thing anyway, and it changes over the stretches of time and space, so why trust something outside of yourself that you can't control? How can you confirm that these people saying that you are wrong know what they're talking about, at least more than you do? And if we wanted to get really philosophical, are they even talking about real, tangible things? Beliefs are just that, beliefs, they're concepts. At least, I would assume that they are. It's like saying, well, this must be an orange 'cause it looks like an orange. So now what does an orange look like? And does citrus x sinensis still look like an "orange" if it were to grow on another planet?

I'm saying this 'cause personally, I don't feel comfortable compromising what I believe in just because the people close to me call it "foolish" or "stupid". For me, it leads to existential crisis, depression, low self-esteem, lack of self-worth, and I regress into a total and complete a-hole. Does that make me immature? I like to think it doesn't. Ask yourself this: is racism wrong? Most people will probably say yes, that of course it's wrong and it's stupid and makes no logical sense. What if I told you that, very recently in fact, racism was an integral part of society? You probably already knew that, but I'm just emphasizing just how many people were against the likes of MLK and Rosa Parks. Abraham Lincoln, who was born in Kentucky (whose loyalties were kinda fuzzy but I'm pretty sure it was Confederate-leaning) as well as a Republican (the conservative party) did one of the most progressive and liberal things in American history. And so I'm not biased toward my home country: apartheid in South Africa was a huge deal 'til the early 90's, and Nelson Mandela showed literally everyone up and then became their President for good measure.

What is my point? That yes, you're wrong. You are completely and 100% wrong in your beliefs, because that's what other people say. But screw what other people say! What matters is what's right or wrong to you. And if you think, and not just think but know, deep in the darkest corners of your heart that what you believe is right for you and you specifically, then roll with it! If we all believed the same things, we'd all be in trouble. We'd live in a world of corruption, there would be no politics 'cause you can't argue with anyone, so there wouldn't be any government, at least not a very good government because we all know how well dictatorship ends. Basically, the world would collapse in on itself. Yeah...not good. Does that sound fun? OF COURSE NOT. IT SOUNDS AWFUL BECAUSE IT IS.

If you are considering the path less traveled by, that means God (or whatever higher power or lack thereof that you believe in) has bestowed a rare and amazing gift on you. It is up to YOU to decide what you do with it. You can't change others, but you can change yourself, and others will follow. They won't at first. It's called hesitation. It's called well-I'm-comfortable-doing-what-I'm-already-doing-because-I-don't-personally-see-anything-wrong-with-it-so-why-change-it mentality. Okay, it's not really called that, I just made that up. But what's life without a little fun and adventure? It's a life without a little fun and adventure. That's boring. Don't be boring. You're not here on this Earth to be boring (unless you are. Because we need fun and boring people because see above paragraph).

And really, decide for yourself. If you really love these people, then you wouldn't bow to them. You wouldn't submit to them. Leave that for the kinky stuff ;) You'd share yourself unconditionally with them. You'd debate with them for hours over the meaning of life. That's fun. Life is fun. Make it fun.

Or, you know, don't. 'Cause we can't have everyone rebelling, now can we? Then again, there would be no government because no one would trust it. And that would be bad. But just don't worry about everyone else, 'cause you can't control their actions. If they follow a bunch of weird trends, let them. Just do you. You were born to be you, that's why you're you. It only makes sense.

Until next time, I'm signing off for a while. I will most likely be back, but I'm taking a break for now. Will be busy living my life. I love each and every one of you who has stumbled upon this little corner of the Internet, especially if you decided to linger and stalk all my stuff (heh heh XD). No one said the path less traveled by wasn't a dangerous path to travel. There's a reason not many people travel it. I gotta make sure I stay alive, dang it!

Peace my dudes!