Mark On the Wall

The Meeting

“You aren’t normal,” he bluntly states.

I am caught off guard and shift awkwardly in my chair. He doesn’t notice. Instead he proceeds to speak, “You know this, of course—that you aren’t normal. You don’t want to be normal. Honestly, normal scares you. You naturally think outside of the box, which isn’t a problem—except for most everyone thinks inside the box, and they want to put you in it….”

Nearly twenty minutes roll by before he is done analyzing me. Twenty minutes of frightening, unbelievable accuracy which renders me speechless. All the self-denial in the world could not shield me now, and I saunter back to my desk wondering why it is-- why now, why these last two weeks-- have I been forced to face my own worst enemy?

I sit down with a burn in my face and reread the quote he handed me as I walked out the door:

“If we do not rise to the challenge of our unique capacity to shape our lives, to seek the kinds of growth that we find individually fulfilling, then we can have no security: We will live in a world of sham, in which our selves are determined by the will of others, in which we will be constantly buffeted and increasingly isolated by the changes around us.” (Nena O' Neil)

I swallow, set the paper aside, and hear an echo of earlier words, “Kenzie, don't be a sham. Don't waste your potential. It will be very disappointing if you do.”

I grit my teeth and get back to work.

posted by Mckenzie @ 17.1.07