There is nobody else in the world like you. Even identical twins are not genetically the same. There are approximately 7 billion people on the planet today representing about 6% of all people who have ever lived. Doing the math, you are not that proverbial one in a million; you are one in 116 billion. Scientists disagree on the real number of possible DNA combinations needed to accidentally produce identical human beings, but most agree… Read More »Being the Fringe
The fringe elements of our society can be identified with characteristics that are on the tails of just about every bell shaped distribution curve. We make assumptions either consciously or subconsciously that we are the “normal†case and people not like us are measured according to where we think we lie on that curve. We get excited about new ideas that always seem to spring from somewhere along the fringes. We sometimes are terrified by… Read More »Redefining the Fringe
The dark-side fringe people never live in the shadows where nobody can see them. Instead, they are not only visible, but generally advertise their presence very noisily. They are hard to miss, but their hidden agenda is usually cloaked in subversive messages. This may not really be malicious behavior, but instead comes from an unnatural desire to propagandize their message even though it may not be a well thought out idea. Because we live in… Read More »Danger of the Fringe
From the time you decided to burst forth from the womb you started on a course that would inevitably expose you to the fringe. Mommy and Daddy protected you from bad people, but your very being is quite different from them even though genetically you may carry some of their physical characteristics. Every person capable of thinking, growing, and experimenting needs the fringe to expose them to the tails of a normal distribution curve of… Read More »Value of the Fringe
There are some words in the English language that we toss about as if we really know what they mean. When someone uses the word “fringe†it has to be examined in context to determine what meaning is associated with the word. In a phrase without obvious context, it is left up to the listener to determine if the connotation is positive or negative. “Bob was always on the fringe.†Taken on face value, Bob… Read More »The Definition of Fringe