by Nadia Ghanny

Created on: May 11, 2011

After meeting my spouse, I realized that my theory was in fact conclusive.  I was the "black sheep" of the family including being born into the wrong family was accurate.  Not only are there so many in the world that feel the same way but my spouse also illustrated this to me.  Indulge me for a moment; I think that people who feel so much uniqueness and far removed from their families are “out of the box people.”  What I mean by this phrase, people who are brilliant, creative in ways we cannot fathom, different/unique, high achievers, rare these are all the adjectives to describe “out of the box people.” 

Our families cannot fathom even the most minute fiber of who we are to them we are “weird, different, a loser since we cannot get a job at the local construction site or drive a bus and we are not working very hard if we do not come home looking like a bricklayer or someone who is “blue collar” working in the trenches, muddy all over.  They look for the harshness in the person as well in their mannerisms and if by some reason you lack this harshness and muddy appearance you’re not to be bothered with, you’re on the sidelines and not much to be proud of.

God forbid that you also want to attain a higher education because this is not something your family believes in unless you are a doctor or lawyer.  The only reason why they see these two professions as the greatest thing on earth is that they know of no other, they recognize the words, the labels that’s it.  Furthermore, if you want to be an “Industrial Designer” that’s not the thing that one should do since you’re wasting your time in school so why not get a job in construction. 

Another point, each time you are invited to family functions, your kinfolk will often ask the question "are you still working?"   They believe that maybe only doctors and lawyers hold down jobs, but most who are the "people out of the box," they are frivolous in their approach to life.  It doesn't help the situation if after graduating that you were unable to find a job in your field and the only ones available was contract work so it would appear over a significant period of time you were often off of having a job in your field.  It doesn't cross the "tunnel vision individual" that it may be sometime before finding a full time job in your chosen field of study.  Thus, the question

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