Le Freak
Using lingo that might now be regarded as quaint, an iconic figure of a bygone era memorably spoke of ‘waving his freak flag’. He must have felt the need to overcome self consciousness.
It is probably banal to bang on about feeling like a misfit or an oddball. Some folks find it easy to conform to prevailing trends. Hans Christian Anderson’s tale of The Ugly Duckling is almost perfect in summing up the group dynamics of situations where a soul feels out of place.
The empowering point of Anderson’s story is that the duckling was actually a swan who thought he or she was a duckling who didn’t fit in. Swans have their own qualities that are different to those of ducks, but one species is not better or worse than the other.
The ugly duckling eventually developed swan like features naturally. He or she didn’t wave a ‘freak flag’ on the way.
Allowing nature to take its course shouldn’t be a big deal for anyone to understand, yet so much energy and angst is invested in doing something else.
