I reject the status quo. I refute the Zeitgeist. I’m not content with not belonging, but sooner that than the assimilation of the hive mind. Frightening, really, to concede to the thought that diversity of thought ought to be embraced, but not such that it diverges or dejects. Defiance is rejected, there is no room outside the box! Why, then, must we strive for something more? Standing out amidst the rainbow wave of ideas puts you right on the other side of the wall. Black-and-white, never budging, never changing. Close-minded, apathetic, cold.

        I reject the wall. I refute the divide. I’m not prism-filtered sunshine, nor am I grayscale clouded daylight. I am the night full of stars, that sees no color, yet glimmers with colorful might. A sun-deprived sight that couldn’t be further from dark. Ensue the battle of scalding sunlight and thunderous overcast; I’ll stand aside and wait as the sky fades out.

        Pierce through the pitch black with blazing streaks of light.

        Take my hand and join me on a quest to count the stars.

        Rejoice in the glitter dance of distant fireflies,

        and right before the sunrise, step back and close your eyes.

        Do you also see the faintly smiling nebulae?

        Observe, for they know happiness that doesn’t stem from here.

        The great unknown, the foreign sky, the outsider to the light.

        Take after Orion, standing proud mid prying eyes.

        But the morning comes. Venus wanes behind the blue veil. The once-shadowed world reveals its cinders and cracks, and the war begins anew. The world of belonging. The world of behaving. The world of being right, and of being wrong, and of being right again. Never the in-between world, no. Never the understanding, patient, observing world. Never the quiet, serene, unjudging world that envelops you in joyful sparkles and kisses you goodnight.

        No. I scorn your scorching light. Take my hand, we’ll stand aside. Let us count more stars tonight.