Standing out, no fault of his own

We’ve got an albino squirrel that lives in our backyard (or nearby, at least). I don’t see him too often, but every once in a while when I go out on the balcony for a smoke there he is, pigmentless fur and red eyes. He bounds around the yard, climbs the trees, gets into the garbage cans like the other squirrels. However, there are two significant differences:

1. He is always alone.
2. He is FAT.

I don’t know much about the social habits of squirrels, but in the springtime they seem to frolick in pairs, running around taunting each other with discarded food scraps, or chasing each other through the trees.

But not this guy. If he’s around, no other squirrels are there. Which is, I assume, why he’s so fat, as he’s not squabbling over food.

Are the squirrels scared of him because he looks different? Do they revere him? Do they not engage him in their squirrel games? Or is his isolation self-imposed, conscious of his differences, probably taunted as a wee one, so sticks to himself as a means of protection, and in turn has created the fear by his own actions?

I looked up stuff about albinos in literature to see if there was much justification for my working theory about squirrel.

Silas in The DaVinci Code. Solitary villain who brings about his own downfall, not unlike John Locke, by trusting in the one institution that reaches out to him.

Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingird. The feared recluse who is just misunderstood and becomes the hero.

Moby Dick.

The list goes on.

I’m fascinated by the way that people (and other creatures) either capitalize, or allow themselves to be hindered, by the ideas or traits or whatever that separates them from the crowd. Do we choose to gravitate towards those who have the same differences as ourselves (and therefore are “the same”), or do we just not care? And what do we use as our defining “difference” in our vocabulary (because we all in our own way have a multitude to pick from)?

The albino squirrel can’t be anything but albino. I suppose he could roll in the mud, but what would he do in the winter? Or the desert (do they have squirrels in deserts)? Besides, he’d still have red eyes.

And does the fact that he can’t hide it make it easier or harder for him? Or does he not know, because it’s just the way he is?

So where is this ramble going? I want to know about your inner albino squirrel. A story about the time you realized there wasn’t something about you that was unique. And what you did with that. Did you hide it? Did you put it out there for everyone to see? Do you now surround yourself with people who share that uniqueness?

So, there’s today’s challenge. Have fun.