Skip to main content

Getting too comfortable

Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion. Jack Kerouac
"Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking." Romans 12:2

I'm not very impressed by those that compromise themselves to trends, fads, popular opinion.  I'm sure I do it, a lot of the time without even realizing it, but I try to be aware of it.  When we bend to the trend(s) of our culture we show others that we have no imagination, no courage, and no ability to think for ourselves.  Seems harsh for me to say that right?  But think about it, I mean really think about it.  I'm right aren't I?  
Just because something is trending or popular with the majority doesn't mean it is right or good.  And people with no ability to think for themselves, imagine a different way, or a lack of bravery won't get anything of lasting value done.  The greatest things that have been accomplished have been done by those who swam upstream against the culture and its pressure to conform.  Oddly enough one of the messages of our culture is that we need to be different but then the message is contradicted by the mocking that happens if we don't bend to the trends.  WHAT?!  Talk about opposing messages.  
Want to accomplish great things?  Then don't get too comfortable in your world.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Call it a Day

The literal use of this phrase hails from 1838 when the phrase originally was "call it half a day" to mean leaving work early. (source) The modern use of the phrase is to indicate ending something due to false sense of accomplishment. 

More bang for your buck

This phrase was used a lot in 1953 but an earlier citation puts it at 1940 in a Metals and Plastics Publications advertisement. Read about it here . The phrase means you get more for your money.

Butter someone up

There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment.