Gary.

I have this friend. We’ll call him Gary. He is an interesting fellow. He often sports a blue hoodie and some old school specs, and he is perhaps one of the few guys I know that can pull off skinny jeans. Before I was friends with him, I must admit that I thought we would be perfect for each other. There was no reason why, except for his appearance. My fascination with this gentleman was for purely aesthetic reasons. I became friends with one of his friends and eventually, with the guy aforementioned, Gary. 

At the beginning of our friendship it seemed my prediction of his character had been accurate, and I was not to be disappointed. He indeed was a very intriguing individual, one who seemed to captivate my attention with his sly remarks. He knew all about music, and listened to indie bands with names resembling some fancy deserts or body parts. He owned a hookah and he read. He read more than any other guy I had previously become friends with.

It seemed that Gary was everything I had thought him to be. Until I began to notice something. His friends would always say how he had only done something because they themselves were doing it. He would joke at others expense to impress someone he wasn’t really friends with, but desired to be. He would wave his intelligence in the faces of others in hopes they would fawn over his personality. In short, he was like everybody else. He was human. 

Imagine what a blow this had been to me. I had made him into a God simply because he looked different, unique. It usually takes a lot to look different. I personally believe it is the biggest social norm you can break simply because there is no hiding from it, even if you want to. To dress yourself in a way that baits questions and perhaps talk is quite courageous in a sense. So naturally I thought they would have a personality to back it up.

How often I have been disappointed in finding out that this is not true. Too many times to account indeed. The fact that I had idolized him, made it even worse. It was as if I had disappointed myself. Did I learn anything? Nope. Just that people can disappoint, and often they do. More importantly, that we are all as boring as the next person. I already knew that though.

Peace