I've learned
(through careful and constant experimentation)
that people look at you like you've landed and want to meet their leader
if you wear tights, red on one leg and yellow on the other,
with heavy stage makeup,
and walk home in the dark, sniffing a pink flower and laughing giddily.
And also if you try to go skating in a half-frozen puddle in sneakers.
Even just for burying a friend to her neck in the snow by a road.
(Don't worry, she didn't mind.)
Society is scared of people who skip backwards in the rain -
of people who make choices
instead of just following everyone else.

It's okay. Just imagine
how silly they'd look
if everyone else
skipped backwards to work.

--Kim Scott was the winner of our first essay contest and is a frequent contributor to vegetarianteen.com