Why?
Why do we indulge in comics and stories? Many people don't understand what we see in these things.
We launch ourselves into worlds of fantasy and miracles. We shun reality in favor of these worlds full of heroes and villains. We lose ourselves in these worlds and let our own slip away. We curl into our shells and forget about our responsibilities and lives.
Many people don't get why. They don't get how we are capable of favoring their lives over our own. They don't get how we can like these worlds of fantasy as intensely as we do.
But what they really don't get is that we have to loose ourselves to these worlds. They are what keep most of us sane. We use these worlds and stories as a way to make up for the disappointments of our own. We use them as an escape from our own boring existences. We project ourselves into these characters and situations as a way to convince ourselves that our lives aren't so bad, that there is more to the world. That there is hope we can be happy and do something extraordinary.
Our 'stupid worlds of fantasy' are just that. Fantasy. These stories are made to give us hope that the world isn't as black and white as it seems. These stories put splashes of color in our reality.
It isn't that we are over obsessive freaks who can't come to grips with reality. It isn't that we don't want to grow up and take responsibility for our lives. It's just that we need our stories to cope. While some people express themselves through art and music, we do it through story telling and the make-believe.
We are able to take all the pain and frustrations from our less-than-desirable lives and turn them into someone who is special. Someone who has a purpose. Into someone that stands out and matters.
We don't go around flaunting our love for the make-believe because we are laughed at and judged. We don't turn our embarrassment and sadness into negative emotions. We take them and create something special. We find our release by creating relatable characters that can feel our emotions for us. Characters that can have the perfect lives we wish we had.
So yes, we do prefer being isolated and distant from reality. But, if we aren't, we will have no one to talk to. No way to express our emotions. Most of us grew up different from "normal people". So please, please, excuse us from expressing ourselves differently than you. Please forgive us for not having the luxury you probably had of being able to actually talk to someone when you needed to. Being able to know how to talk to someone when needed.
Please excuse us from being near people who don't understand, people who never realized the problems we were internally struggling with, never realized how bad we were hurting. Please excuse us from being stereotyped. Please excuse us from not living up to your expectations. Please excuse us from not knowing how to 'properly express ourselves'. Please excuse us from never learning how to 'properly handle our emotions.'
We know people find our 'hobbies' hard to accept, but please try to remember that not everyone is you. That not everyone is surrounded by the people you are. That not everyone had the exact same life experiences as you. Please try to remember and maybe, just maybe, we will come out of our shells. Maybe, if you weren't constantly ridiculing and judging us, you would learn to understand how we feel. Maybe you would learn how to show compassion and empathy towards people different from you. Maybe, just....maybe.