I wanted to be different...

[PrinceMyshkin]

...but couldn't think of anyone worth being different from.

Which is not strictly true, but I'm a sucker for a (hopefully) bon mot. There are lots of people I would like to be different from.

How about you, who would you especially like to be different from?

[Bakiryu]

I would like to be different....From everyone else. Remenbered always. Transcendental. Brand-new. Unique.

[dramasnot6]

The beautiful thing is we are all different.

[Bakiryu]

Not really. Somewhere in the world is someone who at least thinks the same as you, or looks like you as well. Everybody wears the same clothes, listens to the same music. Is a world of clones.

[Niamh]

my twin!:p :lol:

[Nossa]

I don't really like to compare myself with others. I'm happy with myself, and with the way I turned out to be. If I wanna be different, then I'd like to be a better version of me...without the flaws that I have as a human being. But I don't think that there's someone for speceific that I wanna be different from.

[MaryLupin]

thinking about this thread. What is it really asking? – that is my question to myself. Not what Myshkin meant. No. What I think it means. And then Jung comes into my head and I think “I want to be different from my shadow.” And of course that is both true and very, very silly.

To delineate my shadow:

She is a venial woman. Small in mind and heart, she refuses to grant others humanity; thinks, in fact, that she has the right to grant others lives. I can feel her lumping over in her sleep down there in my womb. She is slow to love, quick to anger and incapable of empathy. She is the kind of woman that, having collaborated with the world-killer, turns a week later and proclaims that she knew nothing, that she knew all along that he was a bad one. My shadow is the kind of woman who takes a snarling delight in others’ intractability. She has an adamantine self a small bitter black walnut for a soul.

I want to be different from that.

[PrinceMyshkin]

thinking about this thread. What is it really asking? – that is my question to myself. Not what Myshkin meant. No. What I think it means. And then Jung comes into my head and I think “I want to be different from my shadow.” And of course that is both true and very, very silly.

To delineate my shadow:

She is a venial woman. Small in mind and heart, she refuses to grant others humanity; thinks, in fact, that she has the right to grant others lives. I can feel her lumping over in her sleep down there in my womb. She is slow to love, quick to anger and incapable of empathy. She is the kind of woman that, having collaborated with the world-killer, turns a week later and proclaims that she knew nothing, that she knew all along that he was a bad one. My shadow is the kind of woman who takes a snarling delight in others’ intractability. She has an adamantine self a small bitter black walnut for a soul.

I want to be different from that.

Wonderful. Your "small bitter black walnut" reminds me of - is it Peer Gynt whose soul is reduced to a mere button?

[MaryLupin]

Wonderful. Your "small bitter black walnut" reminds me of - is it Peer Gynt whose soul is reduced to a mere button?

Its the way we speak about what not to become on the Rez where most of my family lives. Generosity of life and love is considered the greatest human virtue and its opposite the greatest human weakness.

[Visionary3]

I would want to and hope I am different from any persons who are cruel to others or animals in any way, or who destroy the environment.

Then there is some just being different from myself.. I would like to be different from myself not being published for money to the opposite.

[formality hater]

The beautiful thing is we are all different.

I agree.People can resemble remarkably but the thoughts remain unchallenged!:)

[motherhubbard]

I’ve been thinking about this and certainly there are several people who come to mind. There are some people who are so outstandingly stupid that it’s hard for me to stifle my laughter when they speak, and I’m sure there are many times I have a strange look on my face. I get so tickled at the things some people say.

A girl in one of my comp classes just couldn’t understand why Blake had to write about all of the bad things in London where there were so many beautiful things he could have talked about. What did he have against London? I’ve always had a problem reacting to people who’s vision doesn’t reach their nose. This probably explains why I had so few friends growing up.

I don’t want to be someone who lacks empathy, vision, charity, compassion, resolve, humanity, forethought, or an imagination. I also don’t what to be like someone who is self-centered, materialistic, sheepish, mindless, lives on the surface with no depth of soul, places more meaning in things than in people, or loves themselves or their own pleasure more than others.

But Like Ms MaryLupin, who is so beautifully articulate, I don’t think that’s the real question.

It’s easy to know what one doesn’t want to be, but not always so easy to know what one wants to be, or how to become it. That is another thing entirely and possibly the better question.

[MaryLupin]

It’s easy to know what one doesn’t want to be, but not always so easy to know what one wants to be, or how to become it. That is another thing entirely and possibly the better question.

Oh what a fine question! If we could really ask that of ourselves, learn to ask it not of our particular dogmas, but ask it of our bodies, our selves! Then...if we could learn to listen for the answer! What a fine question MotherHubbard.

[Mortis Anarchy]

I don't want to be like my mother. That sounds bad but just wait before you jump. I've been talking to her, and it sounds as if she has a lot of big regrets. I don't want to twenty or thirty years from now be talking to my daughter/son of what could have been...I want to show them that what could have been is actually a reality.

I don't want to take it...I don't want it handed to me on a silver platter like so many people these days. I don't want to be a person that just lets people walk all over her. I don't know what I will be, but at least I know that I can change. I think that that is the important thing to know. That we can all change and we can all be what we want, but we have to fight for it...and it may not always be in the way we want it...but it is there.

[Turk]

I just want to be different from stupids. That's all.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I just want to be different from stupids. That's all.

That is rather a tall order since humanity seems to have such a rich diversity of ways to be stupid. What might be more useful, what nobody seems to have picked up so far, is that I meant for us to choose one living or historic example of somebody who embodies what we particularly loath.

[kilted exile]

I dont get why people want to be different. I want to be myself, if by being that I am either the same or different to the majority of the rest of the world I dont care.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I dont get why people want to be different. I want to be myself, if by being that I am either the same or different to the majority of the rest of the world I dont care.

Well you have selected Jane Austen as someone by whom you define in part who you are NOT. I was assuming that just as we all (or most of us) have had hero(ine)s after whom we modelled purselves, so we had negatives to help us define who we are.

[Countess]

Who I want to be different from: myself.
Who I don't want to be: me.

As far as Jung's archetype goes, my shadow must be my glorified self because truly I hate myself and wish I were dead a great deal of the time. If I don't pass this test next Sat I'm resolved to give up trying and accept the fact that I am a loser, and live that out until I die. I have always secretly suspected I belong on the street/homeless, so I might as well recognize my destiny and accept my fate.

What I want to be: I lie when I say I hate the masses; truthfully, I envy them. I wish I had been born a completely normal person who lives life on the surface, so I could enjoy life and be happy.

A full labotomy may be required to achieve this state. Actually, drooling on myself in a mental institution has its appeal. At last I would have peace and serenity.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Who I want to be different from: myself.
Who I don't want to be: me.

As far as Jung's archetype goes, my shadow must be my glorified self because truly I hate myself and wish I were dead a great deal of the time. If I don't pass this test next Sat I'm resolved to give up trying and accept the fact that I am a loser, and live that out until I die. I have always secretly suspected I belong on the street/homeless, so I might as well recognize my destiny and accept my fate.

What I want to be: I lie when I say I hate the masses; truthfully, I envy them. I wish I had been born a completely normal person who lives life on the surface, so I could enjoy life and be happy.

A full labotomy may be required to achieve this state. Actually, drooling on myself in a mental institution has its appeal. At last I would have peace and serenity.

Countess, may I say this for your eyes only? (I am assuming that all our fellow posters will respect my header:D ) You are apparently going through a bad patch. You WERE happy once and I'm willing to bet one of my beloved grand-children that you will be again! Smarten up! In fact, smarten the eff up!

I remember this wonderful line from a story by an applicant to the programme in which I taught: "I suddenly forgot what it was to be unhappy."

Stop sucking on those rancid lemons (and write back to or call me).

I have spoken!

[Bii]

I definitely don't want to be George W Bush

[Bii]

He he he - I like it, particularly the 'comfastible preservative'! (though we're in danger of falling foul of the site rules!).

So who don't you want to be like?

I also don't want to be like Jade Goody, Jordan (yak), Posh, Paris Hilton...in fact the list is fairly endless.

[PrinceMyshkin]

He he he - I like it, particularly the 'comfastible preservative'! (though we're in danger of falling foul of the site rules!).

We or rather I did just that and the offending material has been forcibly deleted.


So who don't you want to be like?

I also don't want to be like Jade Goody, Jordan (yak), Posh, Paris Hilton...in fact the list is fairly endless.

I knew it was only a matter of time before someone challenged me on that and might have guessed it would be you.

Well, let's start with the last one on your list and add Anna Nicole Smith ('specially now she's dead), Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh, Rev. Jerry Foulmouth, Pat Robertson or Jack Nissenson (what? You dont know Jack? Ah, I forgot, you didn't grow up with my circle of friends...)

[the silent x]

i take the approach of being different because i want to blend in so i can't be noticed, many people want to be recognized or want to be in the limelight, i want a simple and quiet life so that i can be in peace.

[Bii]

Well, let's start with the last one on your list and add Anna Nicole Smith ('specially now she's dead), Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh, Rev. Jerry Foulmouth, Pat Robertson or Jack Nissenson (what? You dont know Jack? Ah, I forgot, you didn't grow up with my circle of friends...)

So, dare I ask, what did Jack do to so offend you?

You know, it's hard to answer the question without straying into politics. Does it count if they're dead, or political groups like the Taliban? Probably.

[motherhubbard]

it's current politics that are taboo

[PrinceMyshkin]

So, dare I ask, what did Jack do to so offend you?

Evidently you did dare but a person need not offend you directly to want to not be like him. It's the paleness of Jack's soul (insofar as I sense it) that I want to be different from; the fact that one cannot conjecture him ever having had sex with anyone (or possibly ever having desired it); and that I identify in him my own appetite for attention.

[Bii]

Evidently you did dare but a person need not offend you directly to want to not be like him. It's the paleness of Jack's soul (insofar as I sense it) that I want to be different from; the fact that one cannot conjecture him ever having had sex with anyone (or possibly ever having desired it); and that I identify in him my own appetite for attention.

It's an interesting point you raise - I find that when my kids are most annoying it's because they reflect back something I don't like about myself, and I have to resist the temptation to correct the character fault in them that I have been unable to correct in myself. We are none of us perfect, I guess.

[SleepyWitch]

i don't want to be different, i am different :D

[symphony]

I want to be different from...yeah got it got it got it!! - Britney Spears! I loathe that gal!!

[Lily Adams]

I just kind of uh, became weird...I went through this huge explosion of thinking the same way (BEING NORMAL IS STUPID!) when I was around 11 or so, and here I am. :)

Downsides:
1. A bit prejudiced towards popular things.
2. Easy to forget other people are much less strange than you are, so you need er, watch out. ^^

[Bakiryu]

I want to be different from myself. I want to be someone new and not so shy. I want to be someone who isn't invisible or scorned. i want to be beautiful.

but i'm not and that's the end of it : :)

[motherhubbard]

I wanted to be a great many things, but alas, I am who I am and I’m different. And really, I am so glad. I wouldn’t be happy any other way.

[kiz_paws]

I wanted to be different from girls who could not tear themselves away from the mirror

I wanted to be different from the people who brought me up and be more open-minded

I wanted to break free from the Barbie mold and prove that I had my own merits

I wanted to be different and play my own music and not something that was put down in front of me

I wanted to be different and blaze my own trail and if people could not or would not follow, so be it

Yah, that is pretty much it. Thanks for asking. :)

[Debrasue]

I'm a 'people watcher'...I hate no one....I love to observe how they (we) behave...without being observed myself....anonymity suits me...even tho I do find myself the 'center' of attention whether I want to be or not...99% of the time I love being just another face in the crowd ....but seriously....Hitler .... probably if I have to give a name to 'evil incarnate'.... he (and his ilk)ceased to be 'human' at some point...or he became the embodiment of the worst of human nature...and I try to be as far opposite from that as I can. Without denying too much of my own peculiar nature....I choose to be the person I want to be...and I choose to be nice & friendly...but as simple as that sounds....you wouldn't think it could be so difficult ... some people do try my patience.LOL! but that's just me...I'm at peace with myself enough that I'm comfortable wherever I'm at...whoever I'm with.....

Kiz....I love mirrors!...but not to gaze upon my own 'physical beauty'...but rather so that I can see my inner self honestly...the way others might see me ...or how the personna of the 'character' I want to portray comes across.... I'm a natural born actor...kinda hard to explain...but it's it's all me...

I do like your answere....straight to the point....

[toni]

Nowadays, I keep to myself more often, just me, with my thoughts, speak lesser, pull barbaric acts that drive my mom insane, like cut my hair into three parts (I haven't gotten the round of dyeing them white, pink and blue yet), listen to rock-er songs, just keep my head down, wear darker clothes.. Maybe its just a phase, I dont know/care, its like I've completely transformed to someone totally different from myself, and in such a short space of time too, probably because I'm tired of people's expectations of what should I be (all prim and proper, :sick:)and started not to think about them anymore and that i should just please myself first . heh, i've had enough. (am I transforming to a little rebel?!)Is this what they call "teenage Angst" :alien:

[dramasnot6]

Go Toni! You're old and mature enough to be able to decide how you want to run your life, and a wonderful person no matter what you listen to or wear.
We aliens like shape-shifting,anyway :alien:I do miss you though! *blows kiss*

[Lily Adams]

I'm tired of people's expectations of what should I be (all prim and proper, :sick:)and started not to think about them anymore and that i should just please myself first . heh, i've had enough.

Well, that's great, really! It is! Exactly! :thumbs_up


(am I transforming to a little rebel?!)

Isn't that what new generations are for?




As for me, I'm through being cool. :D