There has always been, and will always be, a segment of the population that does not fit into society. They are not criminals — as one might initially think — because criminals actually have a well defined place in our world: we build prisons and spend huge amounts of money from national budgets on them. Many jobs are exist only because of them. Moreover, many politicians and rulers have been, and continue to be, criminals; yet, as long as they hold power, few people can say it aloud.

There are people who seem like puzzles taken out of a different box — individuals who never fit into the picture of existing life, no matter how much one tries to twist them.

Sometimes some of these people manage to change themselves, but it often feels like a surgical operation: they cut away part of their essence in an attempt to conform. Yet nothing can be altered without leaving a trace; scars may appear not only on the body but also on the soul. They become like animals in a zoo cage — well fed, with cages occasionally cleaned — but this is not where they belong. It is not a life; it is merely survival.

Even when such people live this way, they resemble crippled, aged shadows trapped in young bodies.

Our world and our society have developed in a harsh manner, distorted by those who rule over others. Some—those who cannot bow their heads to these rulers, who cannot pretend that a life of crippling conformity is normal — do not fit into mainstream society. I am one of those people, and perhaps you are too.