I once heard a pessimistic fellow say that all the educational system does is process mindless automatons that are taught what to think, what to say and what to do, thereby taking away their free will.
Although I do not prescribe to this man's way of thinking, I do believe that most of us, including myself, strive to follow the pack. We think that by being different we will be laughed at and criticized, and in this frame of mind we have become no more than bleating sheep.
All of us have heard that we should be ourselves and to not worry about what others may think. Still, when we do something a little different we can feel the burning of their eyes, whether or not they are even looking at us. This is what is called paranoia, but as the old saying goes, just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean people aren't following me.
However, we should not allow it to control our lives. We cannot live in constant worry that we are stepping out of the mold that society wants us to be in. Every now and then it's OK to be an individual and be different.
I have never been a fan of private schools, the ones where all of the kids dress the same. Before long, you can't tell one child from another. They all look identical. While this keeps those in less standing from being ridiculed, it also keeps them from being individuals. The uniform becomes nothing more than a straightjacket stripping them of their rights to be different.
All of this is not to say that we should be unruly or undisciplined; rather we should be able to express who we are without fear that others will mock us for it. As an example, I will relate a story of something that happened to me recently.
I must admit to being a fan of an old 1980s television program called "Punky Brewster." For those of you who were not around in the mid-1980s, you will more than likely not remember this show. It is the uplifting story of an abandoned girl who is taken in by a grumpy old man. Together they find love and acceptance even in the face of uncertainty.
Anyway, I ordered it through an interlibrary loan at Bracken Library. A couple of weeks ago when I went in to check it out, the girl behind the counter took one look at the DVD case and then at me, then proceeded to laugh in my face. I understand that it is a little strange for a 26-year-old man to favor a show such as this, but each of us needs to understand that we are all different. At the very most, this lady in question should have acted a little more professionally than she did.
As a people, we need to accept the fact that none of us are the same. We have different complexions, different skin colors, different likes and different dislikes. We all have our hang ups and our flaws that others must accept before we will become the society we need to be- a society that acknowledges the fact that none of us have the same personality, but we should all be treated with respect.
After all, together we make this country a very colorful place, indeed.
Write to Joshua at jsfaris@bsu.edu.
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