By Debbie Ruston, Featured Contributor
We live in a society that accepts we must all follow the same way of thinking, and not question the perceived “experts” or what is “normal”. This often leads to frustration and a feeling of lack of control within one’s life.
The media publishes something and society accepts a reporters point of view. A Dr. gives an opinion and a patient doesn’t question them. Decision makers in government, education, etc make decisions and society is trained to accept what they decide.
What has happened to using our own minds to make decisions? With all the technology tools available, we can do our research on things we question.
When our daughter graduated college, we went to the graduation ceremony. We were told not to applaud until the end of the graduation, after all the graduates had crossed the stage to receive their diploma. This hit a cord in me. I could not sit there and let our daughter cross that stage after all the hard work and commitment she had put into getting her degree. I expected other parents would feel the same way and would question this “rule”. I couldn’t believe no one had the courage to go against the grain, and chose to sit still and just watch graduate after graduate cross that stage without a moment of recognition. It was the most demotivating display I have ever witnessed of recognizing someone’s accomplishment. When it came time for our daughter to take her turn across the stage, we stood up, cheered and clapped wildly for her. Yes, she knew it was probably coming and was a bit embarrassed, but said she loved every minute of it and she will never forget her moment. The interesting thing was, once someone had the courage to think for themselves and actually do this, almost every young person after that got roaring applause from their families.
We are all part of society, but we do not have to be like cows in a pasture. We are individuals. We have minds to think, intuition to trust. We can choose to go against the grain.
