What You Don’t Know

So, just how wise are you? Have you assessed the thought processes you use to reach the conclusions of your daily and long term decisions? Are you an independent thinker, or is the conventional wisdom of the majority the basis for determining your opinions and ultimate stance on a matter? Although research and information from others is valuable and necessary, it should not go unchallenged by one’s desire to do what is ‘normally’ done in a given situation.

Adopting a belief of, “that’s not for us”, made in reference to blacks not attending a ballet, for instance, or to not acknowledge the talents of country music performers, suggests you are not a person operating within a framework of your own convictions.  You are engaging in the willful abandonment of your right to self-determination by the act of ‘group think’ or going along with the crowd because of peer pressure. Why have you relinquished the personality you were born with in order to fulfil a stranger’s notion of what is right for you? If listening to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony while having a bowl of cereal is what you enjoy, why should you not do that? Why subject yourself to indigestion and heartburn while learning the finer points of thug life from $.50? The first clue that this is not a good idea should be that fifty cents is only half of what it should be!

But the discussion is not limited to preferences in music. Conversation between you and your “homies” communicate loudly, your lack of autonomous thought by the language you use. Words to describe everyday events, people and inanimate objects are replete with profane and racially charged descriptors rather than terms which accurately convey the points you seek to make. Why do you deem it appropriate or necessary to insert expletives at each utterance? Is your vocabulary so limited, that the use of foul language has become the pinnacle of expression? Do you relish in delight by the denigration of people whose race or ethnicity is different than yours? This seems apparent due to the ever present phrase, “those @%$#&^ “.

What will it take for you to ‘wise’ above the furrow of ignorant comfort and begin to experience the act of exercising free will? Are you confident that all you’ve experienced is all the world has to offer? When will you cast off the shackles of predictable behavior and see for yourself if the Earth is or is not flat? What lies beyond the horizon will without doubt surprise you. The fear of the unfamiliar must not equal discouragement. To become the individual you were born to be does not require a gargantuan effort. It only necessitates one opening the eyes and mind, then listening to the voice of reason from within. Heeding the chorus of the crowd destines you to the pool of ignorance. Be different on purpose!