Being different

Sometimes, it's difficult to be different. That's probably why these two words are so similar. 
Today, my class and I went to a conference about "Selectividad" (the final exam we do in Spain before we start college) in a building not far away from my school. After that, we had to go back to class: we had Universal Literature. We were going to finish reading the Metamorphosis, Kafka's best book. The book is precisely about the topic I'm writing about today: how people who are different are rejected by society and often have to resign themselves to not being accepted.

Anyway, even though we had class, most people just wanted to go home, because it was the last period of the day. I understand that not everyone is as interested as I am in literature (not everyone is as "freak" as me), but they said that either all of us went to class or we all went home. It was only another girl and I who wanted to go in, but she said that she wouldn't go if nobody else went, so I was left alone with a decision to make: follow my will and go to a class I like by myself, with all the other people criticizing me at my back, or follow the crowd and go home. I finally chose the second one, feeling a bit sad that I hadn't done what I wanted to.

Of course, this little story is almost insignificant, but then, if you take the essence of it and see the big picture of the situation, you realize that these kind of things happen to us all the time, not only with small decisions like this, but also with things that actually have an impact on our lives. How many times have we stopped doing something we really wanted because of fear of what others might think of it? Whether we want it or not, we live in a society with other people, and majorities can easily defeat the individual. Even if we are against something because we think it's wrong, we sometimes support it (or at least we don't argue about it) just because most people do so! Let's take politics, for instance. I am sure that there have been many politicians who have had new ideas in order to change the situation of their country , but they have been unable to put them into practice because their ideas clashed with the interests of certain people, and they've had to choose between doing the right thing or keeping their reputation among the ones who surround them.

And this is how we let ourselves be influenced by others, because that is how the world works: it's mostly a chain of interests. If you don't follow the flock, then you're going to be the black sheep. But is being different really that bad? I mean, the most important people in history are important precisely because they've been different. If they had stopped following their ideals in order not to be "weird", we would not have many of the wonders we have now, like electricity, cinema or the internet! There are times when you do have to cope with what others say in order to fit in, but never let your personality be lost, and if you think you have a great idea or you are completely against something, just say it! As Jim Morrison said, "The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are."