damned if you do

being a blue thread
in an entirely white fabric
means that you are doomed
for wherever you go
you will always be wrong

b.c.

Last night, like the rest of the world, I sat and watched the 44th president of the USA being sworn in. I listened to his eloquent speech and applauded his superior oratory skills. The man puts his fellow Toastmasters to shame. He can work a crowd into a frenzy and easily move them to tears in just one sentence. When he mentioned the small village his father was born in, I heard people erupt into cheers and song just outside my house. He had afterall mentioned a small nondescript country in the middle of Africa and hence put it on the map. Now the whole world knew of Kenya. But lets go back to the cheering and singing that is going on outside my house. The euphoria has now reached fever pitch. Its past 10.30 on a week night but people are run up and down the road singing his praise songs regardless of whether or not they need to be up early the following morning to get to work. The songs get louder and I realise the crowd is getting closer. They have sang all the way from Kibera and are now near Prestige Plaza. Their actions makes me realise, not for the first time, the fanatism this man inspires in Kenyans.
I have no problem with the fanatism, but I do have a problem with the reasons behind the fanatism(but thats an entirely different story). In the midst of all this Obamamania, a friend of mine dared to go against the grain and question the fanatism. He aired his views on the whole issue by saying he didn't understand all the fanatical support. Instantly someone labelled him a 'hater' because he was not as fanatical as everyone else. This made me realise one painful fact about this life that we live, the moment anyone dares do something thats against what the masses believe, he/she is considered an anomaly and quickly disowned, rebuked or expelled from society. We all preach how we are different we all are but the moment we actually meet some different(which happens quite often) we refuse to acknowledge that they are different but instead demonise them or they beliefs and try make them be like the rest of us.
It is a sad but very real fact that the majority will always rule and the minority's voice will always be muffled. For if you dare to be different you will always be wrong. This status quo has forced many people to keep their opinions or feelings to themselves , scared that if they aired this opinions they will be castigated at the bare minimun or ven get ostracized from the societies they live in.
If being different will make me wrong, then I refuse to be right and demand my right. My right to have an opinion even if it differs with vox populus. My right to not be scared to freely speak out that opinion and have a fair hearing of the same. My right to be autonomous from society and just be me. My right to be different.

P.S. Democracy is hinged on the principle of the majority being right. But as someone once said, 'democracy is the will of the majority being imposed upon the minority'