The battle for individuality. Surely, the longest most difficult battle undertaken by the human species.
It's an issue particularly close to my heart because it's a battle I fight every single day. You see, like everybody else, I am unique. But perhaps not like everyone else, maybe I'm more unique than others?

I guess some background is in order. I moved to apartheid South Africa in 1989. Having been born in Denmark to parents from Lesotho, I was already winning the "differentness" contest. My first address in the Republic was Oxford Avenue, Sandhurst. My father was a diplomat and never drove, and I was a tall black kid amid a sea of white kids.
I sense I'm starting to digress, but you've got the point. I was different.
It wasn't ever a drawback for me.

As I started to grow up, so the need for me to fit in began to grow. I started to dress trendier. Shorts t-shirt out, Jeans branded t-shirt in. This was the easy part! Not so easy, would be out with the Sega MegaDrive. In with... Girls! (Who knew this'd be a life long struggle?!) Anyhow, my differentness was always evident to me whenever we were "on the pull" or chasing girls as it's more commonly known. What was always both amusing and awkward was the inherent understanding that as the black guy in my largely caucasian group of mates, the black girl in the largely caucasian group of girls was my target.

No matter how much I tried to conform, there was always going to be something different about me. When I was 13 my parents had a horrific car accident. My mother was left with two broken legs and my old man with a fractured vertebrae that required a fusion operation. This accident meant only my old man could drive. Thus, meaning I could only be fetched after a hard days work. I was always the last kid picked up. I made this work for me. The majority of my mates were boarders, so I just chilled with them. Naturally being boys there were jokes at my expense. While I laughed along, they only served to remind me of my diferentness.

Believe it or not, this has all been a preamble to me talking about my individuality (or is it individualism) right now. See, I knew fairly early on in my life that I didn't want to work for anyone. I hate being told what to do! Also, when I was 15 I saw one of those motivational posters that spoke about beating your own path. Something about "the road less travelled" and it stuck with me! Since the day I read that poster, and the first time I heard of Tony Stark/Elon Musk I was convinced I wanted to do my own thing! I am not going to do conventional, and I feel like my whole life has been preparation for my failure to conform now. I'm aware that I've made mistakes. I can see why some don't see what I do, but I know in my gut this is right. It's not for everyone. Very often it's not for me. But I really believe I can be successful. Over the weekend I got a right grilling because none of my mates knew what I do, and quite frankly I was quite happy with that. I'm not doing this for anyone but me. When I need their support, I'll ask for it. For now, I'm trying to beat my way down this path. I'm finally celebrating my non-conformity. So excuse me if I tweet too much, and don't arrive at dinner wearing chino's and a collar. I'm busy being an individual.