I have been hated for a long time.
When I was growing up I was a nerd. I watched Star Trek (the original series). I watched it so much that I could tell you which episode it was just based on the first couple of seconds of the show started on the television.
My mother told me that if you carry a book around you'll never be bored, so I took that advice and for a long time I almost always had a paperback book with me. I read Star Trek books. I read Charlie Brown books. I read Alan Dean Foster books and other science fiction books. One of my favorite books of all time was "The Past Through Tomorrow" by Robert Heinlein ( https://www.amazon.com/Past-Through-Tomorrow-History-Stories/dp/0441653049). Nerd! Now I carry a library on my hip in my phone. Of purchased e-books, of course!
As an employee of McDonald's I arrived on time. I stayed late. I got into the grease. I moved and kept moving and did things I wasn't asked to do and got stuff done.
As an air traffic controller I was the quiet nerdy guy that didn't really hang out with everybody else that were talking about their strip clubs and parties and stuff. I was married and stayed married. I didn't go to places after work with those guys because I didn't fit in. I tried to fit in and all and I was accepted for who I was. It was just weird.
Entertainment shows like Family Ties demeaned me and my kind. As a male the entertainment industry has made me out to be a buffoon and an indecisive but aggressive abuser of people and things.
My parents loved me but they always asked and even today my mother will ask "how in the hell did we raise a conservative when we were Democrats?"
As someone who is committed to what I decide to commit to, dedicated to the people that I'm given charge of or get an opportunity to help, I am told to back off. I'm looked at in strange ways. My input is specifically ignored. Unless it's useful to the people and then they take it and run with it.
Now there are forces turning my own society against me and my kind. Based on my income, skin color, marital status, sexual preference, and other factors.
Through the years I've learned to endure. I recently saw a meme with the face of the Joker on it that said damaged people are dangerous because they know they can survive. I continue to survive and thrive in hostile environments.
What I tell people so that they don't get too scared is that I continue to achieve all of my objectives. And I do!
And yet I still feel hated by society. Especially because I am successful.
But I also know that I am loved. Take that!
