Ecstatic to be different

I like it when people give me weird looks.

It happened the other day when my boyfriend and I interviewed for a new apartment. The manager asked for our drivers licenses, so we handed them over and she scanned them quickly. Before she gave them back, she looked them over, then pulled her glasses lower before making a comment about the fact that we are Asian, but our names - first and last - are not.

I've gotten lots of comments about that. That's what happens when your boyfriend is half-White and you're adopted by a White couple. But I don't mind this at all.

I love telling people about my unique stories... possibly because I love talking myself, which I think it due to the fact that when I talk to myself, I know what I'm talking about, which isn't something I can say in every case. I like that I worked my own way through college, that I started writing books at age 14, that I am a Spongebob Squarepants enthusiast at age 20, and that I am Korean-American but my second language is German.

I think why people like being different is because they like to think they are more special than just another person in the crowd, and that something about them brings them to another level where they do not just blend with everyone else. It usually makes them usually more interesting to meet and easier to remember.

I also think that people feel better about themselves and what they have achieved. Being different usually involves challenges to overcome; being left-handed means having to deal with right-handed, well, everything, from desks to scissors to sports equipment. If you're different and successful, it means you've overcome even more than most people, and it's more obvious for others to see, too, so you don't have to brag about it.

There are sometimes special benefits for being different, too. Besides placards to park to the blue parking spots for those with disabilities, there are scholarships and other awards, discounts, and more. One might as well take advantage of these perks if they can.

It's nice because I didn't have to try to be different to be different; I was just born this way. It's not as cool if someone does something just to break out of the box and make a name for his or herself, I think; the greatest accomplishments happen with natural effort and when people are being themselves.

What I find admirable is when people can make the best of what they were given, what makes them different, that many people may see as negative. For instance, Jerilee Wei wrote in her hub "A Gift That Cannot Be Returned" about something that made her different - cancer. However, she considered it a gift, as something that would change her life in a number of ways.

I hope I can continue to be set apart in the same ways I have so far. I think it's wonderful to be proud of what makes you different and even make something of it.