There's this wonderful dialogue in the film Brick Lane.

As a young man the protagonist comes to England, not just in search of greener pastures, but with the confidence that he can be anything that he wants to be. After many many years he decides to return to his homeland. Now he is a dejected middle-aged man; a man whose dreams never materialized; a man without a job; someone who never became rich; someone who could never elevate his status and standing in life as high as he wanted to; someone whose children and friends see as a failure.

And he says to his wife's young man friend: "Do all that you want to do when you are young. When I was young, I felt like I could do anything that I wanted. But then as I grew older I realized that it is not the case. Moreover, now I really don't want many of those things."

The last line of the dialogue struck me.

There is a point in everybody's life when they don't want to be a part of the rat race any more; they don't want the success and riches as the world defines it; they don't want some of the things that they might have spent all their life chasing after; they just don't want it. And they don't care.

They who were boxed in by their surroundings, society, culture and upbringing, one day, refuse to be boxed in anymore. They jump out and tread their own path. And by doing so they shine brightly.

Suddenly, the one who always wanted to belong, does not want to belong anymore; the one who always wanted to be a part of the rest, stands a alone, outside the circle!