“The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.”
-Friedrich Nietzsche

This quote really resonates with me because I see it happen everyday. The majority of my peers all seem to think that going with the crowd, not questioning authority (in an original way), and not exploring the “odd” or “abnormal is perfectly fine. For those who like to live comfortable, quaint, unaltered lives that may be perfectly fine, but I don’t want to live like that. It seems to me that my generation, or, the “self-entitlement generation” (which I think is a completely accurate title), is far to consumed by the status quo and what’s ‘cool’ that ingenuity, innovation, and creativity is often lost. And then, on the other end of the spectrum, those who refuse to follow the fads of the day try so hard to be different that they end up missing out on many wonderful things. What’s more is that they actually become just like those they are trying to avoid, by forming their own ‘ins’ and ‘outs’, making a status quo for those hiding from the status quo. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a situation where I am ignored just as much by the ‘popular’ type as by the ‘un-popular’ one. They are all the same, if you think about it. Now, I know that nowadays my generation enjoys battling the ‘man’ and challenging authority… but once again, it is often only when the rest of the group is doing it. Of course, there are a few that succeed in forging their own paths, becoming either immortalized or banished from society’s path of vision. But, I’d like to think that those who succeed are happy, regardless of how they are accepted, because they don’t care.