Daring to be Different

Society, in any community, has norms. We are expected to fit within narrow parameters.  For some individuals this is not easy. While having a standard expectation of behavior enables the society to run smoothly with everyone knowing what to expect, those who have ideas and needs which are different have a problem.

Many people are able to accept what their community decides and live by those ideas.  They do not have to think deeply about these rules, nor do they have any wish to challenge them.  Unfairnesses are not noticed because they do not impinge on their lives.  This is the world for most of us yet it is narrow and superficial.

Anyone who looks at their surroundings and thinks there are injustices, dishonesty, a lack of balance or a blindness to what is really happening has a problem when they wish to raise these subjects.  Mainly because it is usually in someone else’s interest to keep things as they are.  That is an understandable concept. 

Ideas in a community are always slow to change.  People are uneasy when someone throws up a new thought about how we live, what we believe and how we might make life better for more people.  A fact stated boldly is often rejected because it is too threatening in it’s possibilities.   But, what are we losing by denying someone the right to dare to think differently.  This is where the great ideas have come from and where some wonderful improvements have emerged. The ideas might be rubbish but we can only decide that when we have explored what they mean, what possibilities they might create. 

An example is war.  Most of us expect to have our country defended by the military.  Countries need trained soldiers to avert potential threats.  However the most successful way of maintaining the peace is using those soldiers as envoys of peace because they know only too well the horrors caused by war.  Negotiation, discussion, attempting to see another’s point of view, learning what the opponent means by the words they use, ameliorating injustices, all are a safer and more civilized way of solving disputes than trying to kill as many of those who disagree with you as possible.  That leads to more injustice and anger and is the source of more war.

The world is in torment at the moment with religious strife in many places.  The original precepts of peace at the foundation of most religions has been distorted by damaged, unscholarly leaders with an axe to grind.  Perhaps an honest look at what are really the foundation beliefs of each would lead to a more honest faith. 

At a personal level, we lose the variety, diversity and creativity of individuals who have ideas, positive ones, which could be to the benefit of all. Tolerance is a mistaken word often.  To some, it means being easy going with malefactors, when actually it means letting others, as long as they do no harm, lead the life they need to live.Who knows what benefits the rest of us may gain.

Daring to be different and expressing those ideas in the modern world is hard.  There is always someone who will sweep them away because they are perceived to threaten the accepted patterns. What we need now more than anything, is individuals who dare to say ‘Look!  Do you really agree with this happening?  Is this really fair, kind, just?’  

Daring to be different takes courage to follow the beliefs and to continue even when the rest of the world cannot see the good.