Is It Better To Be Misunderstood?

“Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.” All these people were considered outsiders during their time period, a few of them were even killed for their beliefs. Not much has changed from the times of these brilliant minds. An outsider is a person who is typically misunderstood in their society. Everyone could be considered an outsider in today’s society, by reason of no two people will ever be exactly alike. Judging a person is from an outward appearance, but understanding a person is from an inward appearance. Often times people classify others as
No two people will ever be exactly alike. Each person is unique, so we can never completely understand another person. For example, in The Metamorphosis, when the main character, Gregor, turned into a bug, he was the same person with a different outside appearance. His family couldn’t understand him, so they automatically assumed that he was a completely different person. “His mother (in spite of the presence of the manger she was standing there with her hair sticking up on end, still a mess from the night) with her hands clasped was looking at his father; she then went two steps toward Gregor and collapsed right in the middle of her skirts spreading out all around her, her face sunk on her breast, completely concealed. His father clenched his fist with a hostile expression, as if he wished to push Gregor back into his room, then looked uncertainly around the living room, covered his eyes with his hands, and cried so that his mighty breast shook.” The family starts to view Gregor as an outsider, owing to the fact that he is different than what they require him to be. We all are different, so when we identify a person we can’t understand we perceive them as an outsider to