We all like to believe that we are independently minded; rebels, even. We pride ourselves on being at the cutting edge of technology and culture.
We've seen the latest films, we follow the right people on social media, drink the right coffee and wear the right clothes...
Oh. That's a point. As a society we are awfully keen to be seen to be up to the minute and following the fashions.
Remember when it was all the rage for lads to wear their jeans around the tops of their thighs with heaps of under-pant emerging from the top.
I had the task of keeping a straight face as I walked up a flight of stairs behind someone dressed in this way, and his efforts to hold his jeans up with his knees while managing the stairs was slightly easier to achieve than my straight face was to hold.
If he had been made to wear such incapacitating jeans as a uniform, he surely would have refused, but here he was happy to comply because he felt it was cool.
And don't even get me started on exceptionally high heels for girls, the damage they do their backs and feet, and the chances of them escaping from a fire thus shod.
There is something a bit "Emperor's New Clothes" about our modern world. None of us seems quite strong enough to be the first to point out the simple truth - the emperor's fabulous suit does not exist, and he is parading in the altogether, oblivous to the fact that he has been completely taken in.
But, what harm does it do if we follow the herd? Does it actually matter; and if it does, what should we do about it?
I am prepared to argue vehemently that it matters hugely, not least because when we blindly follow the trend we become very much less tolerant.
Too often we treat those who aren't wearing the 'right' clothes, using the 'right' phone, working in the 'right' career abominally.
Young people who work too hard at school are geeks, people who go to church are square, those who grow their own food and care about the environment are tree-huggers.
It also does us tremendous individual harm, because we spend energy on meeting the expectations of our peers, trying as hard as we can not to stand out. Just think what we could achieve if we put the same effort into thinking for ourselves.
How much happier we would all be if we could truly live and let live. Not harming each other, physically, mentally or emotionally, and living in harmony. Imagine!
Fortunately there are a great many independently minded people out there. Let's all give them room to be themselves, and follow their example so that we each find out who we are and what we can achieve.
To see the work I produce following the principles I have outlined above, visit my websites. http://www.alecarte.com
I also blog at http://www.clevedonmag.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Margaret_Cranford
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