The Only Thing Bigger in Texas is....

There are many stigmas people collect over the years, as they age and they add things to their personality or person.  Tattoos have become more accepted, but some of the locations on the body are quite stigma still.  Visible tattoos will keep you from getting some jobs, while certain locations brands you as slutty or a punk....

I’ve seen the stigmas affect the old, as people start thinking you are senile, and I’ve seen the stigmas that affect the young, how they won’t be heard, no matter how good their ideas are.  I still remember having to fight major stigmas when I was young, and it never mattered when I was proven right, I was still a kid and just got lucky....

Nothing I have ever experienced has ever hit has hard as having long hair in Texas....  It seems silly just saying it, especially having been gone from there for so much of my life now, but the way I was treated still haunts me, and tarnishes the memory of my childhood home.

To put this in perspective, I have no tattoos, the only outward oddity about me, besides my height, is beautiful hair.  I’m honestly not being egotistical, for some reason I have this flowing gorgeous hair, and I honestly feel it is an affront to whatever gave it to me, whether it be a higher power, or just simply genetics, to not grow it long.

That being said, I came away from my time in Texas with more stories of bigoted behavior towards my person than some of my African-American friends, which I simply cannot understand.  Part of me wants to believe that it wasn’t the long hair, it was that I had dreams, and you could see it in the way I held myself....

People in my ex-hometown are rundown, living their lives to work, and eat, and sleep.  There never seems to be any true enjoyment in their lives.  I met person after person that just simply could not see any beauty at all, and were simply so dead inside that it threatened to make me bitter against existence as well.

Knowing I could look off into the distance and see a better tomorrow, made it easier to deal with the stares.  In no other place have I walked across a restaurant and been so watched than Texas.  Never have I been so insulted as when a man with 3 teeth, a ratty beard, holes all in his clothes, and a funky smell walked up to me and out of the blue asked, “So when you cuttin’ yer hair?”

Through it all, I found out one honest fact.  The only thing bigger in Texas, is the egos.  It seemed that every stranger I met knew they were better than me in every way, simply because of my appearance and how I held myself....  I know not ALL Texans are like that, I met some wonderful people in Austin, but I will never forget how I was treated there, and only there.

Anyways, I’ll get off the high-horse now, and turn it over to the comments, because I honestly want to know something.  Have you ever been the subject of odd behavior because of the way you look, or something about your personality?  Please tell me about it below!