Let's be Mavericks!

We live our lives and do things the way certain other “individuals” and “entities” want us to. The way we respond to situations, the decisions and choices we make in life and our beliefs are not really our own, and amazingly all of us aren’t even aware of it!

Right from the time we’re innocent children with no concept about life in general, we are made to do our parents bidding; things which, at that point in time appear ridiculous. A child probably hates to take a bath but he is forced to do so by his mother. It probably hates to eat healthy food and prefers a packet of potato chips; but I’ve seen parents spend hours on end trying to force feed their children. In these instances, not being in control of the situation is a good thing; a parent undoubtedly has the best interests of his child at heart. Years pass, you grow more mature; your understanding of how the world works deepens. You’d think that you know what you’re doing and you’re not really doing or believing things because someone else is telling you to. But is that the truth? Not quite. Apparent control is worse than knowing you’re not in control.

In the grown up world, there are more sinister and insidious forces influencing our choices, beliefs and actions. The media is one such force. The media is such a powerful entity that it can make you believe just about anything by subtly twisting facts. Celebrities, claiming to be misquoted, are about as mundane as the weather now. By changing a word here, deleting another there, a certain something can be made to sound like something entirely different. And we are made to believe. Such influencing is not important in the grand scheme of things. But sometimes, a perfectly honest and self respecting individual’s entire reputation can be destroyed as the general public is willing to BELIEVE most of what the media prints. And let’s face it, we know that certain papers are sensationally motivated, but what they write and print does affect us subconsciously.

Another instance is that of the concept of credit. The basic idea of credit is quite powerful: you borrow today and pay back later. However, practically living off credit is not something considered very smart. Yet, governments in North America and around the world encourage you to use credit all the time. These days, businesses sometimes don’t even accept any other form of payment except credit cards. Also, unless you use your credit card and repay your debt, your credit rating will always be low; if your rating is low, you won’t be able to get a home loan or a car loan; in other words, the government is cleverly making you borrow, even when you probably don’t want to. One of the major “entities” we left out in the discussion is our “friendly bank”. The banks are probably lobbying hard to keep such laws in place. It sounds outrageous and we may never agree to it, but all this is done behind the facade of a hot teller at the bank and we accept whatever she says! :P Clever marketing always influences us. Also, tomorrow, if the banks file for bankruptcy, you won’t even be able to see YOUR OWN money. Are we in control at all?

I feel that modern education is also a business and is sold to us. Basic education is important, there’s no doubt about that. But just think of the number of years we’ve invested in our formal education: for most people reading this post, 16 years at least. Most of what we’ve studied is no use in our line of work. Then was putting in almost a quarter of our lives sitting in class a good idea? Maybe, maybe not. Again, we are made to believe that without being formally educated, we wouldn’t get jobs. In the case of middle class Indians, education is a necessity to get married sometimes. Again it has become something someone is forced to do, although it is seemingly our decision.

And let’s not even get started with peer pressure. Though the term applies generally to teenagers, it is applicable to people of all ages; even the oldies. At every stage, we are forced to do something because someone else is doing it. Many of us have completed graduation, but because everyone else is doing an MBA, we need to too, or else we’ll be out of the crowd or won’t earn as much as our friends. Clearly a case of peer pressure.

At every step in life, we are made to CONFORM to the norm and most of us are blissfully unaware. I’m not advocating that we become paranoid and fear the intentions of everybody. I just want you to appreciate how powerless we truly are. But yes, if we want to be truly empowered, we need to be mavericks. Do what we need to; not what we are made to. Believe what we want to, not what we are made to.