The Danger in Being a Sheep.

I saw the other day how a commentator was observing that we have become a nation that heavily follows trends; trends that dictate what we watch, how we dress, the foods we eat and even the way we think.   As a rebel, many times I have turned the opposite way of the trends simply because I don’t like to follow.  Sometimes that has worked in my favor, while at other times being the trailblazer takes a lot of determination, self-will, and perseverance simply because I have experienced that there are not many who will pat you on the back as you blaze that trail in your own unique direction.  I think what scares me the most is that trends kill imagination.  Trends disqualify any original ideas from taking root, and group otherwise great and innovative concepts into a melting pot of less quality but wholly accepted beliefs.  There is a danger in following these trends in a way that I don’t think we will be able to fully understand until those habits have given birth to fully grown and complex issues that can’t be easily undone. 

It is easy to see that our world right now is in a heightened state of conflict.  Everywhere you look, people are debating, rebelling, fighting, or protesting.  As we approach the elections, there is a sense of political heat that no one in the U.S. is able to escape no matter how much they try to remain oblivious to what’s happening around them.  What fuels these armies of protestors and others involved in the conflict is at the root, trends. A trend that they first once believed as a good idea that gave birth to a way of thinking, that grew finally into an all-out belief system where the mindset now is that others with a different opinion do no count, or do not matter. 

I do believe that as trivial as we want to make trends in the world around us, it does shape how we view and live everyday.  On the most controversial of topics, abortion, gay rights, and finances, I think that as people who are more heavily invested in trends than in caring about people disqualify themselves of helping anyone simply because they can not fathom coming along side a person who may have a differing opinion.  That is the danger in being a sheep.  One who follows, even if it nullifies helping, caring or encouraging our fellow man. 

If more of us chose to bravely take the “road less traveled” and cared more about people than policy, would our world look a bit different?

I feel that I will always be a rebel, but I want to do so, not like James Dean’s Rebel Without a Cause, but a rebel for all the right reasons in the hopes that the infestation of people that in a sense, play out their lives with a certain sense of entitlement, or self-righteousness, can finally take a backseat in lieu of genuine care of other people no matter their past, their beliefs, or actions.  Who knows? Maybe one day, we can once again return to and become the United States of America.