I’ve always been the other

Or at least it seems that way

From when I was very young

I was always the outlier

The one who didn’t quite fit

I remember when I was at school

And saying no to cake

I don’t why I declined 

And chose not to partake

I’m usually so inclined

Towards all things edible

Perhaps it was my shyness

Or perhaps, I always

Wanted to be the exception

Different from the common herd

The self-elected loner

But this event set my course

My outsider status established

My sadness at not being part

Of whatever the majority represents

Was more than balanced by

My satisfaction of not being

One of them …

Somehow elite

Somehow different

Somehow better, perhaps

Or really just the other

The one who couldn’t mix

The one who wouldn’t mix

But also, and this I’ve come to learn

Being hypercritical

When judging others

To justify my otherness

Now the years have passed

I have at least begun to learn

That’s it hard to be liked, or loved

When you don’t love yourself

So perhaps the journey we are all on

Is to learn to love ourselves

Even with our many faults

(Or let’s just call them traits)

And to judge not lest

You be judged

And found wanting?

And that, perhaps

We are all the other?