Nobody ever changed the world by conforming to the status quo.

In today’s world, it seems as though everyone from preteens to married adults are rushing to fill the ranks in what has become “the norm”. Everything from what music to listen to, what job to have, where to live seems to be dictated by some “they”. Rarely do we stop to ask ourselves who “they” might be, or how much “they” know about our daily lives and desires.

There are many brilliant and interesting students in their teen years who feel as though they don’t have a place with their counterparts, simply because they choose different interests and hobbies than their peers. It is not accepted to think outside the box, base your opinions on things other than MTV, or enjoy quirky books and media. What a disservice is being done to these teenagers. All the greats in our society have broken through the norms against waves of obduracy.

Imagine if Gallileo had given into the people who believed the world was flat? If he had simply decided to bend to the Church, instead of continuing his own research, no matter how different it was from the accepted truth? If DaVinci had followed the status quo rather than going forward with his “radical” drawings and giving us the first steps toward understanding anatomy as we know it?

On the flip side, we have seen what happens when a society decides to follow the general ideas put out as “right” and “wrong”. If Nazi Germany is anything, it is an example of the horrors that can occur when human beings give into popular opinion without thinking of the consequences. The majority of people in Nazi Germany were not horrible monsters like their leader, Adolf Hitler, but they went along with his ideas without argument, until it was much too late. By the time their friends and neighbors were being shipped off to concentration camps, any action they could take to stop it would result in their own deaths. Imagine if in the beginning those same people had taken action instead of following along? It took a full scale World War to combat the horrors going on during the Third Reich.

As mature adults, we have the ability to see these facts and historical anecdotes for what they are, and that makes it our responsibility to foster a sense of wonder and individuality in our society’s children. The first step we must take is leading by example. If our children see us rushing to find the “perfect job” even though it is not work that satisfies us, or going into debt over our heads to buy cars and homes we cannot afford so that we can “fit in” with those around us, it will only reestablish the messages they get from the media and their peers. Different is not okay.

The second step is to respond to our children’s ideas and interests in a positive manner. If a child wishes to pursue electric guitar instead of trying out for the football team, we as a society should praise him for his decision to pursue a creative hobby, regardless of what may be considered “cool”, and to support him if his peers do not. These may seem like simple things when compared to Galileo or Nazi Germany, but fostering and individualist attitude and creativity will help to form our society’s children into forward thinking individuals with strong ideas, opinions and beliefs. Or, we can allow them to grow up to follow every trend in an empty and unsatisfying attempt to be perfect in the eyes of others.