Baaaa!

Nonconformist sheep

Why is everyone so afraid of being different, when everyone obviously is unique? Those few people who dare to be different always start a trend, and pretty soon all the others copy him or her, defeating the purpose. Like tattoos and piercings and crazy hair color that started out as bold and innovative and have ended up being mundane, everyday, and worst of all, suburban. It's a sad state of affairs without any answers.

One very sad example is a letter printed in today's Wall Street Journal, written by a reader to their fashion columnist. The poor woman attended a wedding and was mortified that she was the only woman there not wearing a black cocktail dress. She was so upset that she refused to take her coat off during the ceremony and did not attend the reception. How could she: Her dress was lavender!!! What a dumb cluck, and what I mean rhymes with cluck but since I am giving up cursing for Lent I wrote cluck. (I have no idea what Lent is or when, but if it's now that's what I'm giving up.)

People need to stop being afraid of standing out from the crowd, and fearing anyone who does. Face it: The crowd is never right.