A slightly mentally unstable homeless woman walked up to a friend and I ambling down a very busy San Franciscan street on a rainy night. She eyeballed us and said, "Boy, you walking on the wrong side of your lady. You gotta be closest to the road, that's just how it is. You gotta protect her." He automatically switched sides with me, slightly shell-shocked at the unexpected interruption to our conversation. At the time, I thought nothing of it. If he'd been walking three feet away from me & I was still curb side, I wouldn't mind, because I'm secure in our friendship. I know he loves me. But then a thought struck me- a thought that has shaped my week- Just because something 'has been' does it mean it always 'will be'?

(Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of chivalry :)

The philosophically minded amongst us would answer in a resounding, 'not neccesarily' (a firm 'No' would be too absolute. By the way, I'm making fun of myself in that statement.) But what does that even mean for every day life? And furthermore, what does it mean when living life in the context of a belief system with boundaries of things that have been and will always be?

Confused yet? Hang in there.

People used to think the Earth was flat. Did that limit them in any way? Of course it did. Fear of sailing off the edge of the planet & disappearing into oblivion foiled many an explorer's quest. Was it actually going to happen? No. Just because people believed in a flat Earth, didn't mean the world stopped being round. On the day that the news came in about the world actually being spherical, I wonder what the people did. Did they celebrate with friends? Did they go out and buy a globe & spin it around for fun? Did they scoff at such a ridiculous modern notion? Or did they dust off their sailboats and explore?

Imagine you're in 1985. Imagine somebody said, "Take these items: a telephone, a camera, every map in the whole world, a compass, a calendar, a television, a very big notebook, and almost every piece of information known to mankind. Make a device involving all of it. Make it small enough to hold in the palm of your hand. Make it affordable enough for regular people to own." Would you laugh? Would you even try? That sounds ridiculous. Who knew the iPhone would be a reality in just a couple of decades time. Now it's my third arm.

Historically, left-handed people were called a whole bunch of names. They were strongly encouraged to switch to their right hand. Basically, the whole world was designed for right-handers and people couldn't handle the fact that the lefties were different. Its like putting on blinkers & forgetting that maybe, just maybe, the left-handers didn't choose their dexterity...

Can the world be changed by those who fail to muster up the courage to stray from the norm? I don't think so. Stay comfortable, change nothing and no-one. If you sit there & enjoy your own little life, as the world keeps turning you'll soon realize that you've severely missed the point of your existence.

Dream big. Live large. And love unconditionally. The reality is here is that your life probably won't play out the way you originally thought it might. Doing subversive 'good' (for lack of a better word) can ruffle a few feathers, but in the long run, the world is better off for it. Life's too short to play by every single stupid rule.