Conformity vs Acceptance

Has anyone ever really thought about what we teach as a society? Local or Global. We are taught to conform to rules at a very young age by our parents. Whom, I might add needed a license to drive a car but only a few moments alone in one to have a child. The only training any parent really gets is from their parents and so continues the cycle there are a select few that may get some training from high school, but there again, as long as they don't drop you and break you they get a passing grade. Lol. So a few will search out information to educate themselves on parenting, but only if they have the where with all to notice there is a problem that they can admit there is an issue they may have caused. Pretty rare in the grand scheme of things. Lol. So here lies the first problem. Your parents teach you what they know, even when they don't realize all of it. They also teach it whether it is good or bad. Having said all of that I believe that a parent does the best job that they know how to do.

Then we go to school with a bunch of other messed up kids. While they may seem normal, don't forget that their parents taught them what they know...... Which in most cases is conformity to the rules and the things that the parents don't like. Now, I'm not saying that there shouldn't be some conformity to rules of society. Rules that keep us from harming other people or even just violating their rights as a human on this planet. In school though, they have to CONFORM to the curriculum. There can be some deviation from the curriculum but not enough to overcome anything a parent has taught.

So what do we do to actually teach acceptance. Now you may already think we teach it. We do just a bit. We teach to accept race, genetic defects,etc. All things that no one had a choice in. What about accepting individualism? Like why is it such a shocker if someone has never been married? It seems to be less accepted than multiple marriages. Or what about never having kids. I couldn't imagine a life without mine, but some people actually plan to never have any. Or what about someone that dresses Provocative? Does that mean her or him is slutty? Why does it have to mean anything other than that's what they decided to wear that day and they felt good about it. Each of us has passed judgement on someone in our life based on what we see. Why? Because they don't conform to the image we think is acceptable. Acceptance, true acceptance is at a place of no judgement. If you don't have a vested interest in it and you find yourself judging it, then you don't have acceptance. How can we ever truly evolve as a society if we don't learn to accept individualism. How many more things could we have if we accepted someone's idea for an invention and encouraged them to work on it. Where would we be without the Da Vinci's, Franklin's and Wright's of the world? They only are known because they had a strong enough belief in what they thought to rise above conformity and go the extra mile. Since we can't really teach that, we must teach acceptance. Acceptance that we may not see the big picture. That someone does or wears something that they like. Ask yourself if you really understand what that person is doing or thinking before you judge their actions, and do you really need to? Wouldn't that energy be better spent working on your own life?

In closing I would just leave the thoughts about being more accepting to a person's individualism. It may prove to teach you something about your own.

Michael McConnell

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