Swim against the tide

Sometimes it is right to go against the crowd and do your own thing. Today many people were giving or receiving Valentine’s Day cards and presents with most doing so because everyone else does it. For the past few weeks every time I have walked into a shop or supermarket I have been confronted with hearts and flowers. It is easy to feel the pressure and get sucked into buying things.

Standing out from the crowd is not easy to do. Human nature is that people like to be part of groups and feel that they belong. I think that you can still have that sense of your place but also have individualism about life where you make up your own mind.

It is easy to understand why people can end up doing things that they know are not right or that they may be concerned about. Because if we want to fit in that much we can lose our moral compass. The focus goes on being able to be part of the group and doing what they do. This can at worst drag us down and could mean poor decisions being made that may affect our lives.

Being able to cast a cynical eye over things and question what is happening is an important skill. In a world where image matters and social media allows people to broadcast their thoughts and views we have to be able to question what we are told. I have written a few blogs about my concerns that young people are not learning to question things. They seem to accept what they are told through the news and social media without ever asking any questions.

When we are young we ask why an awful lot. We lose this as we get older but asking why is something we should do more the older we get. With more experience of life we can see a lot clearer and identify when things don’t feel right. We should never accept it when things feel odd.

In the future will we all believe everything we are told and accept what those in authority tell us? Will we just flow with the tide of activity? I hope not as only by swimming against the tide can we sometimes find the right path.