Please Stop Laughing At Me - Jodee Blanco

TO STAND ALONE IS A FRIGHTENING PROSPECT, BUT TO LOSE WHO YOU ARE FOR FEAR OF BEING RIDICULED, OR TREATED AS AN OUTCAST IS A FAR WORSE HAPPENING.

I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE A STORY OF A GIRL WHO WAS NEVER ACCEPTED BY THE 'IN' CROWDS AT SCHOOL. SOMEONE EVERYONE MADE FUN OF. SOMEONE WHO NEVER GOT INVITED TO PAIRTIES. SOMEONE WHO WAS SO LONELY, SHE FELT LOST TO THE WORLD; BUT IN HER HEART SHE KNEW WHO SHE WAS. THIS GIRL HAD WILD, WIRY, HAIR, THAT LOOKED AS IF IT WAS NEVER COMBED. SHE WASN'T LIKE OTHER KIDS AT SCHOOL. SHE WOULD RATHER SIT AND WRITE POETRY, AND MAKE UP SONGS, THAN HANG OUT AND TALK ABOUT BOYS. SHE ACHED TO HAVE FRIENDS, BUT WASN'T INTERESTED IN THE SAME THING AS HER PEERS. THEY THOUGHT SHE WAS WIERD. THEY DIDN'T UNDERSTAND WHY SHE WAS DIFFERENT, AND CHOSE NOT TO TRY. RATHER THAN OPENING THEIR HEARTS TO THIS STRANGE, BEAUTIFUL FLOWER, THEY CAST HER OUT OF THE GARDEN. SHE DIDN'T FIT IN. AS THE YEARS PASSED SHE NEVER LET GO OF WHO SHE WAS. INSTEAD SHE GREW THROUGH THE EMOTIONAL PAIN, AND DISCOVERED SHE HAD A GIFT. SHE HAD THE GIFT OF SONG. SHE DISCOVERED SHE COULD TAKE THOSE MELODIES INSIDE OF HER HEAD AND CREATE MUSIC. SHE COULD REACH INTO A PERSON'S SOUL. THIS GIFT TOUCHED MILLIONS. THAT MISFIT WHO EVERYONE PUT SO MUCH UPON, WHO WAS THE BUTT OF EVERY JOKE, AND THAT TARGET OF SO MUCH CRUELTY WAS JANIS JOPLIN. WE ALL KNOW HER MUSIC. IT HELPED DEFINE A GENERATION. JANIS JOPLIN LOST HER LIFE IN HER TWENTIES TO A DRUG OVER-DOSE. SHE HAD USED DRUGS TO ESCAPE THE TAUNTING AND THE TEASING BECAUSE OF HER DIFFERENCES. BUT BECAUSE JANIS JOPLIN DARED TO STAND ALONE, AND REMAIN TRUE TO WHO SHE WAS A WORLD OF PEOPLE HAVE BENEFITTED FROM THE MESSAGES SHE SHARED.