Why Conform?

by Evolved

What is insanity? Is it an illness of one being thinking differently to the rest of society? Is it one person's views of life and how it should be lived being unconventional to the rest of the world? I think there is one type of real insanity, that in which probably at least 90% of the worlds population suffers from. That insanity is not being different, or worse, trying to be the same.

This all begins in the way we have been shaped in our upbringings. Being told that we must go to school at 9am until 3:30pm and obey orders from out teachers. To make sure our thoughts aren't becoming to 'different', we are told to wear the same clothing; we can't look different, we must look the same. We go through the same repetition every day, 5 days a week. We stress over tests and exams which at the end of the year, barely even show up on reports. A ringing bell tells us when we have learnt enough of one subject, and should move onto the next. We are told when we are tired and when we must rest. We are told when we are hungry and must eat. We dream of the day when we finish school. This is our education.

But it doesn't end here.

Then we leave school. We must get into university to get somewhere and become someone in life. Someone that is important to everyone. So we find jobs, and work from 9am until 5pm and find out that school wasn't so bad after all. We work hard for that promotion or that pay-rise. We work overtime and weekends. We pay off mortgages and loans. Then we retire at 60.

At 60, we now have the time to do the things we wanted to do in life. But not the energy. We sit in our armchairs, watching shows like 'Wheel of fortune', thinking "I have achieved so much in life. I have worked hard, become rich and can now live life to the fullest." Then we die.

This is a nutshell of what many lives become, simply because they have been told what to do and how to do it. Many people are happy with this kind of life. But I ask you, why must we conform to their rules? Why must we live this kind of life without being a little different. I am not saying that I am an individual or a rebel. Sadly, I must admit that I have also become one of the masses and I don't expect to be able to change myself, or anyone else overnight. However, I can offer a suggestion to change things just a little bit, a few ways to live life a little different......................Stand in the middle of traffic and dance, play Monopoly and cheat your ass off, make prank phone calls, crack incest jokes at family reunions, defy TV, denounce everybody, place disturbing classified ads in newspapers, send your teacher's or boss's name in to matchmaker publications, piss in small, enclosed public places, sling dead things into mailboxes, steal neighbors' pets and deposit them in supermarket store freezers, toss money at people, alert people of their beauty or ugliness, put leaks in cups, disappear for a few weeks, copyright everything you see, say, or do, stare hatefully at completely normal and boring people, compete with your teacher in class, stomp in quiet hallways, pretend that you're invisible, streak, penalize people with imaginary point systems, get yourself on TV, shoot rubber bands at people, storm into bars and demand tap water, untangle phone cords, wear prison clothes to school or work, make a game out of your own pain and discomfort, express interest in everybody, call a phone sex line from your boss's phone and leave it off the hook, fake illiteracy, write a contract denying all responsibility and have everybody you meet sign it, tell sick jokes, be politically incorrect, pick your nose on public transportation, get your hands bloody, place various objects on train tracks, invent more origami, make love to anything, make war on everything, develop a cramped and psychotic handwriting style, explode fruit and vegetables, don't do homework, record all conversation save all letters and take pictures of everyone, leave religious propaganda in porno shops, make people think for themselves........but most of all, BREAK YOUR FUCKING CHAINS!!!

I am not claiming that all or any of this will have any major impact on the world. If anyone is game enough to try any of these and expect anything to be very different, they will surely be disappointed. But my point is, if you try any of these or anything else that breaks the routine of life for you and maybe the people around you, and it changes even just slightly the way you think about living your life, then you are on your way to breaking the chains and thinking for yourself. I think even if you have read this far into this article then you have a chance at becoming your own person. The sad thing is that most of the people that this article is directed to will never read it. Their mind is beyond the point of return and will remain closed to new ideas for probably the rest of their lives.

Ok, I'll admit, most of these are probably just a waste of time. Starting with smaller things may be a better way to begin. Wear what you want, listen to what you want, watch what you want, talk to who you want, kiss or fuck anyone you want (with their permission of course), drink what and how much you want, smoke what you want, go where you want and do what you want. So you are probably thinking to yourself, "I already do this!". Think about it. Do you really do what YOU want, regardless of what others think. I bet you you are influenced by everyone else without even realizing it. People will have more respect for you if you be yourself. A "try hard" can be spotted a mile away, whether it's in the way of wearing certain clothes (I fucking hate those USA jumpers being worn in Australia), the way they talk (some people just love to add swearwords into every sentence for no reason at all) or the way they walk. Everyone is different and no one wants to be copied.

Remember, people only get remembered for being different.