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Welcome back to my monologue where i talk about things that occupy my mind
Today I’d like to talk about the mainstream and especially going against it.
most of the great people in history that i can think of had to fight opposition to make their vision come true
in an earlier episode i talked about specifics so let me give some examples
Elon Musk is notorious for disrupting various industries for example the mobility sector
he brought electric cars into societies spotlight
he made it cool and desirable
he realized something that the big players either didnt want to realize for years – – – or weren’t able to
what do you think people around him told him when he first had the idea of building electric cars or revolutionize the spaceship industry
they thought he was nuts
but he kept going
and he overcame the opposition
what about jesus
what about ghandi
what about minorities in general
being a minority doesnt automatically mean you’re wrong
they have to stand up for their beliefs and values against the majority
but they didnt back down
they stood up for themselves and others
even though they put themselves at personal danger doing so
how do you live through discrimination or demorilazation by others?
i have my own experiences in this matter so i came to think about this a lot
How did they do it?
It’s definitely nothing you are being prepared for in school
at least i wasnt…
it was always kinda obvious for me that to become great you have to do things differently than the rest of the people who don’t become great
standing out from the majority requires making different decision than the majority does
that makes sense to me
But what i never thought about is that that automatically makes you an outcast
you need to be different
but being different then has the side effect of breaking up the status quo
but everyone around you is trying to maintain status quo
because that’s all they know – that’s what they agreed upon
change – for most people – is related to loss – risk of losing
so rather don’t change anything
‘Be the change you want to see in the world’ — that’s a quote by Ghandi which I always liked
but i never understood that it would actually make you sort of an outcast
because change means you need to do things different than others
if you’re trying to achieve different results than others – you obviously need to make different decisions
Which could mean you spend your weekends working instead of going out. Or you don’t do drugs, or you are strict in not using social media because you disagree with data privacy. This separates you to a degree from the rest of the people.
That’s not something you’re taught at school
and you won’t be able to make everybody around you perfectly comprehend your motifs
so you will encounter lack of understanding, lack of appreciation or even discrimination.
That’s why we look at those freedom fighters of history as heroes.Because they endured pain – no matter if physical or social pain – they kept going.
And I realized what valuable skill and level of integrity that demands.Can you see that, too? Thank you for listening.