A step in the same direction.

Notice anything funny in this video?

I'd stop laughing if I were you.

This little conforming laugh is actually a prime example of something that happens in everyday life to every age group, every race, and every individual on this planet. We conform, we fit, we take the path of least resistance like the social liquid mold we've taught ourselves to become.




But why?



Why must we become the sheep that, from a very early age, we are taught to stray from? Individuality is a highly prized commodity and especially in America. Why do we have to become the very thing we hate and somehow prize at the same time? What is this force that pulls us to each other to the point that we have to prove ourselves to the rest of the crowd?


I think we're just not paying attention sometimes, and other times we're just weak.


Think about it. Even those of you who are reading this, thinking, "I am an individual and this does not apply to me. I'm not one of those posers." I would beg to differ.


You see, recently, I figured something out doing something I do a lot. Running.


You know, running is a lot like life. Everyone starts, and uses experiences along the way to move to the end with the best result. And you know what else? The hardest thing in the world is to find your own pace. The hardest thing in the world is to actually forget the others, and push your own limits and not another's. Your constantly thinking, "oh no, that guys catching up. I'd better speed it up." which eventually turns into "oh no, I've gone too fast. I've screwed this race up and I'm going to burn out."



You find that when you run someone else's race, you never reach your potential.



Like life. You can't try to live someone else's life. It just doesn't work like that. Your interests and your personality make up who you are. You take a path you really don't want, but have convinced yourself you need to "fit in". By choosing another's path, you choose to deny what makes you an individual. You choose to throw away what's been given to you. A most dishonorable insult.

We're just weak. We see ourselves as weak. We're insecure. We constantly become the harshest critics in our own lives. The result is a constant awareness of our weakness, and a constant desire to be something better. So we idealize the jock, the punk, the business man, the star, the person "everyone" loves. Back to the running analogy, we desire to run another's pace because we believe they are faster.

And sometimes we are just not paying attention. When you don't pay attention, or lay idle in your life, you quickly forget the goals you had and the reason you exist. Everyday begins to look the same, and we fall into a nice, easy, conforming routine.


Think about the last time you felt frightened, out on a limb, sticking your neck out against the crowd just for doing something you wanted to do and actually carrying it through rather than folding.

When did you last feel embarrassed for doing something you found no fault with, but for some reason the crowd convinced you otherwise.

When did you last felt like an outsider?


When did you last do something because someone else would think it was cool?
When was the last time you took a step to someone else's beat?
When did you last forget about everyone else, and ran your race?
When did you last help another without becoming them?
When did you last have to be someone your not to make a friend?







When was the last time you were.....

you?