When You’re a Stranger

Where did I come from and who am I? Do typical people expend much time on these questions, or is it just me and a handful of other narcissists?

I actually am genuinely interested in those big questions, perhaps, most of all, because I so often feel like a stranger in a strange land.

Dennis and I never set out to set ourselves apart. Then again, did we? If so, it was in the early years, when we were young enough to believe that we could escape all that entraps most of humanity in small worlds with small outlooks.

Whatever the specifics, here we are.

A few days ago, from some random person in the ether, I got a reply to something I tweeted. It said, “Must be strange and exhausting to go through life as you do, looking for deep conspiracy theories at ever turn.” To that, I responded, “It’s not. In fact, I’d call it rather fascinating.”

I probably wouldn’t still be thinking about this exchange, if likes on his tweet didn’t keep showing up in my notifications column. I have to say that I am quite pleased with my reply. While I was certainly tempted to get really snarky, mean, or just start typing with my “teacher voice” (which the kids hate, and I can’t say that I blame them), I let common sense win the day. I owe nobody explanations, least of all some Joe on social media. I will say here, however, that slinging the disparaging “conspiracy theory” verbiage is an intellectually lazy way to avoid the responsibility of doing one’s own research and thinking for oneself. A certain intelligence agency (right at the heart of things—like every war America’s been involved in since 1947) coined the term “conspiracy theory” to get people to look away from the incriminating evidence that is literally paraded around for anyone with eyes to see.

Conspiracies exist, and they always have, whether we’re talking about Caiphas and his minions ordering the guards placed outside Jesus’ tomb to lie about his disciples stealing away the Body or Joe Biden and his puppet masters stealing the 2020 election.

So, if you want to hang a “conspiracy theorist” label on me, feel free, but it says more about you than it does about me.