Against the grain

The last 5 years I have worked against the grain. That means I have worked at a time when others are off.  I have worked in a field that tries to improve what is typically available.  I have worked with a company that would end the way things have been done for the last 500 years.  And I am working now to innovate a realm that has not listened to the experts in its field for over 60 years.  Yes, against the grain I would say.

My personality is well-suited for working this way.  When I was only 8, my third grade teacher told my mother that I always seemed to take the opposite viewpoint.  In college I took some of the least taken courses like the history of China, the history of Rome, history of the English language, and the introduction to linguistics. When I was in my 20s my mother told me I was a contrarian because of the type of reading I would spend time with, such as Qabala.  In my 30s I sided with the evidence that Shakespeare hadn't written the world class plays attributed to him.  I now believe in the properties of logic that show that language and math are manifestations of one and the same system of order our brains depend on.  The list goes on...

While I enjoy a good debate, I relish the time I spend with like-minded people and those who are compatible with my personality.  And if someone is compatible, it means they too are working against the grain in some fashion or another, like not settling for what 75% of people settle on for their own education, or what even another 18% of people settle for in receiving formal training, or even what another 5% try in advancing their educations one more level from the 18%.  They settle for what only 3% push on to receive.  They do things like disagree with the way things are and see the things that are coming. They can work within a system already in place in order to drive that system to a new place.

I have come to accept my role in society, the stripes on my zebra coat that won't be changed.  It's a comfortable place to be,  I like being there and with those who "get" what this role is about.  Everyone recognizes it's not the same grain.