“Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.” – Albert Einstein

Is it just me, or has life become really boring lately? This year’s seen Hollywood spew out remakes, adaptations, and trilogies by the bucket load. It’s also seen even more songs bent on getting us to “shake what our mammas gave us” and/or spell out words like D-E- L-I-C-I-O-U-S and B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Why is everything and everyone the same? When did unoriginality become the benchmark? What ever happened to fresh new ideas?

This tendency to “follow the crowd” was recently made quite clear in a quote I came across while reading Liar’s Poker (also available in South Africa), a fascinating look into the darker side of investment banking. It reads:

“Everyone wants to be [a contrarian investor], but no one is, for the sad reason that most investors are scared of looking foolish. Investors do not fear losing money as much as they fear solitude, by which I mean taking risks that others avoid. When they are losing money alone, they have no excuse for their mistake; and most investors, like most people, need excuses. They are, strangely enough, happy to stand on the edge of precipice as long as they are joined by a few thousand others.”

Fact is, we’re all different and nobody fits in with all people all the time. If anything, it seems like we’re constantly forced to adapt our mannerisms and accents depending on who it is we’re with. But why should we? Being different is nothing to be ashamed of or apologise for. And it’s definitely nothing we need to change just to make other people comfortable or happy. In my life I’ve been told that I’m a health freak, that I’m too organised, that I read too much, and even that I think too much. Paying attention to crap like that would be asking for trouble.

One of the values society needs most these days is independence. We shouldn’t be the type of people who believe certain beliefs just because we always have or live certain lives just because everyone else does. We shouldn’t be the type of people who hop on whatever bandwagon happens to be pulling into town without every taking the time to think for ourselves. We need to come up with our own ideas and be our own people.

The hardest thing about being independent is not about finding a sense of originality; it’s about keeping it. It’s so easy to feel as though there’s something wrong with us or that we need to change when everyone is doing their best to convince us that’s the case. But basing your entire sense of worth on what other people think is a dangerous thing to do. I say, screw them! Who needs to fit in, anyway? If people call you boring for preferring vanilla ice-cream above all others, it doesn’t matter. And if people call you selfish for enjoying time spent alone, you shouldn’t care. Be different. It’s your life.

 We need to stand up for ourselves and the things we believe in most, even if it means being unpopular. We need to stop accepting things at face value and start questioning the status quo, even if it means being criticised. We need to be comfortable enough with who we are so that we can constantly push our boundaries and challenge old ways of thinking. It’s the only way we can set our own standards, make our own mistakes, and live our own lives. It’s the only our lives will be worth living in the first place. It’s the only way we can make a real difference. Know what I’m sayin’?

(Eugene Yiga is the editor of Varsity Blah and his latest book is available free, exclusively from www.varsityblah.com/about)