Ben is a Scorpio with Aquarius rising. He has Uranus conjunct his descendant, exacerbating (enhancing) his Aquarian qualities. He’s got this to say:

“I know why they copy me,” he said.

“Why?”

“Well they admire me, of course. But the thing they admire about me is that I am an individual. So rather than absorb this and go out and be an individual themselves, they go out and try to be me!” He laughed. “How can they be that stupid? Seriously. How can a person be stupid enough to think you can be an individual by copying someone else?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, Elsa, I’m telling you it makes me insane. It makes me IN-SANE. I don’t think there is anything I hate worse than someone who thinks they can be an individual by pretending to be me. Except passive aggressives, maybe. I hate them too. But anyway, let me say this. Let me get this out.”

“Okay.”

“There is only one of each of us. There is only one me. in this world and no one else is going to get to be him, but me. Not that it’s great to be me, because it’s not. My life is horrible as you know, but it is MY life. So how does a person think they can be me or anything even close to me, when they are not me? They don’t look like me, they don’t feel the things I do, think the things I do. So what is it they are trying to do? What’s wrong with their own life? What is wrong with their own person that they have to try to be me?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I have no idea.”

“Well either do I, but I think we are put on this earth as individuals and to live any other way… it’s an offense. It’s an offense to the universe to spend your time trying to be anything other than the person you are in your own right. How dare someone even try to mimic another person? The audacity!”

“Well, I agree with you.”

“If you don’t like yourself? If you aren’t happy with who you are? If you’re boring or if you bore yourself? Then go and do something about! Go make yourself into something you do like. But you can’t become individual by copying someone else. Wearing what I wear and saying what I say is not going to help you.” He stopped to sigh. “Anyway, Elsa, enough. I’m sorry but this is a pet peeve of mine. It is probably the biggest pet peeve I have. And if as many people tried to copy you as they do me, you would probably understand it. For once I would like to do or say something and not see other people doing and saying it a week later. For just once. Because they way it is, it’s as if I have to live in a world of my own clones!”

I laughed.

“I only wish it were funny. What it is, is disturbing. Whatever I wear, they wear. Whatever I eat, they want to eat it. Whatever I say, they say. I swear it’s enough to make a person mad. What’s Benjamin doing? What’s Benjamin thinking? Let me go find out so I can see what I am going to do and think tomorrow. Gah. I hate that. But I won’t say it anymore. I don’t mean to rant like this but sometimes you just want to say how much you hate something. It’s either that or explode.”

Do you have a pet peeve?