The sorrows of black sheep

When it comes to the values we somehow get a bit touchy since they are one of those elements which build our personality, our visions of the world, and what makes us truly us in that whole picture of life. Of course, we all have values, although they may differ even among people belonging to one and the same cultural frame. Building our value system is a part of our own growing and self-acceptance, therefore, we need to feel comfortable and ready for a certain change which might be necessary to be done.

It will not be strange at all, if at a certain stage our values could be challenged and even threatened by placing us in an environment, offering a complete contrast to what feels close and familiar to us. For one reason or another, we have chosen that environment and the bonds we have already built may not be so easy to be cut. Leaving that same environment and looking for the right one may sound like the quickest and most appropriate solution, though, finding the correct one for sure will not offer the so much desired swift change.

Still, we may choose to stay and explore what that challenge is all about, despite the uncomfortable thrills it gives us, but moreover, because of the bonds which have so far given us the feeling that we belong somewhere. The longer we stay, the more evident the differences will become and the questions, whether we have to change ourselves and adjust to the environment or to stay true to what we have accepted as truth for us, will occupy our thoughts more often and respectively the feeling of being different will become stronger.

Those differences will be noticeable not only for us but for the others as well, thus giving us the feeling that we are slowly but steadily turning into the black sheep and that will be visible in all their actions and reactions. Apart from bearing the harsh emotions of being a disgrace or simply weird, the black sheep says much more than this, and merely our needs to be a part of a certain herd. The herd defines the rules and values, and being black among the whites, will always be a distinct sign as long as the external trait value more than the internal.

Then, is it really being black the reason which causes the sorrows of the black sheep? It could be! More often, however, the black sheep suffers from being called a sheep, and consciously or not, because of its own disabilities to define what kind of animal it is. That’s what the real challenge is, and not the values of the herd. Therefore, being able to properly define ourselves will give us the freedom to peacefully inhabit a given habitat and protect our values, despite the differences of all other species, as far as we are not their food.