The Island of Misfit Toys

It’s Christmas time, and in my household that means watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  One of my favorite parts of the movie is when they visit the Island of Misfit Toys.  I always thought living there sounded like fun, because every inhabitant was so unique no one person stood out because of their peculiarities. 

Like those misfit toys, we all know when we don’t fit in.  We may not consciously be able to put our finger on exactly why, but unless someone is completely blind to the social signals of others, it’s pretty obvious when we don’t quite belong.  Children realize this just as well as adults, but may not be able to articulate why until adolescence or even adulthood.  You quickly learn to perceive what parts of yourself are socially acceptable to reveal, and which would be met with confusion, pity, or just plain incomprehension. 

It can be especially difficult if the group you feel the least rapport with is your own gender.  Anyone who has spent time with me knows that I pick up every interesting bug I come across, and have no problem discussing various stomach churning topics at the dinner table.  Unlike this family, finding a corn snake in our Christmas tree would result in the Best Christmas Ever.  These traits were usually met with a resounding “ew” from most girls, so I found the boys were usually far less grossed out by my entomological fascinations.  The knowledge that you have little in common with the majority of your peers make the few “fits” you do find all the more precious, though not always fully appreciated except in retrospect. 

We never completely grow out of our eccentricities either.  If we’re lucky, we learn to embrace and incorporate our oddities, and find other misfits to colonize an island with.  We are captivated by each other’s cabinet of curiosities, and are remarkably accepting of the peculiarities others bring to exhibit.  In comparison, we really find “normal” people rather boring.  We’re comfortable with who we are, and secure enough to not feel the need to either transform “normal” people into ourselves, or ourselves into “normal” people.

So come visit our island of misfits someday.  

You might fit in better then you think.