I'm thankful for weird people out there 'cause they're some of

The words of Channing Tatum, “I’m thankful for weird people out there ’cause they’re some of the most creative people,” shine with playful simplicity, yet they conceal within them the eternal wisdom of honoring difference. In calling the weird people a blessing, Tatum overturns the scorn often cast upon those who do not conform. What the world may mock as strange, eccentric, or odd is, in truth, the wellspring of creativity. His words echo like those of an ancient sage reminding us that the builders of new worlds have always been the dreamers, the outsiders, the ones unafraid to walk where no path had yet been carved.

To say he is thankful for the weird is to confess that creativity is not born in uniformity but in divergence. For when all think alike, thought becomes stagnant. The ancients understood this paradox. Socrates himself was deemed “weird” in Athens, walking barefoot, asking questions that unsettled the powerful, refusing to follow the conventions of wealth and status. Yet his strangeness birthed philosophy, and his death gave the world a model of truth that transcended the city that condemned him. Thus, what the crowd called odd, history crowned as genius.

The creative spark lives most fiercely in those willing to appear strange in the eyes of others. Leonardo da Vinci dissected bodies in secret, sketched flying machines when men thought such dreams madness, and filled his notebooks with riddles and codes. In his time, many whispered that he was eccentric, even unsettling. Yet it was his “weirdness” that cracked open the boundaries of art, science, and imagination. Tatum’s lighthearted thanks echoes this same truth: to cherish the unconventional is to cherish the seedbed of progress.

The world has often treated its weird and creative souls harshly, casting them out, mocking their visions. Consider Vincent van Gogh, dismissed in his lifetime as unstable, selling almost no paintings, laughed at for his bold colors and strange forms. Yet today his works are revered as windows into the human soul, priceless treasures of art. His “weirdness” was not a defect, but a doorway to beauty that generations now walk through. Gratitude for such people, even when they do not fit our molds, is the mark of wisdom.

Tatum’s words also strike against the fear of difference that haunts every society. To embrace the weird is to recognize the divine variety of creation. Not all trees grow straight, not all rivers run smooth, and yet in their irregularity lies their splendor. The ancients often saw the gods in the unusual — an owl in daylight, a crooked flame, a strange birth. Difference was sacred, not shameful. Thus, to give thanks for those who do not fit is to honor the mystery of life itself.

The lesson for us is clear: do not shun the unconventional, but seek to learn from it. When you encounter someone who sees the world differently, listen closely. Their vision may reveal a path unseen, an invention unborn, a beauty unimagined. The “weird” are often the guardians of tomorrow’s treasures, carrying within them the imagination that reshapes the ordinary into the extraordinary.

As practical action, begin to cultivate gratitude for the unusual. Thank the eccentric friend, the unconventional colleague, the child who dreams strangely. Encourage them rather than silence them. In yourself, embrace the quirks and oddities that set you apart; they may be the very source of your greatest creativity. And in the world around you, celebrate diversity of thought and vision, for it is the soil in which innovation grows.

Thus, Tatum’s playful yet profound words resound like ancient counsel: give thanks for the weird, for in them lives the fire of creation. Mock them, and you mock the future; honor them, and you honor the spirit that renews the world. For it is always the different who dare to imagine, and it is always imagination that carries humanity forward.