I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite. -G. K. Chesterton (1874 – 1936)
Assignment:
Are people held back by their adherence to the beliefs of the majority or doing things in the conventional way? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.
Unassailably, our characters and tributes are influenced and directed by the people surrounding us since young. The kinds of exposure and upbringing we gained throughout our lives definitely hold a significant impact on our beliefs, mindset and behaviors. Therefore, under such premises, it is almost certain to comment that every decision that we made is a product of majority influence, but just differs in terms of degree of its impact on us.
This adherence to the beliefs of the majority is well explicated by human’s herd behavior. Inherited from the ancestors in the Stone Age, our communal spirits influence us to live in a tribune, who enjoys the mutual support of one another. This “group living” and “fear of being alone” mentality leads us to be always aware of ourselves and cautious of what others thought of us. As a result, we are easily influenced by the people surrounding us. And when we become too susceptible to others’ opinion, instead of being dogmatic about our standing, we tend to hold back on our own opinion. In order to complement with the mainstream thinking, many of us choose to abandon our own defying thoughts and embrace the thoughts of others for the fear of being abandoned or estranged.
This hold-back demeanor is depicted succinctly through the education choice of the students. As doctors and lawyers have become the top prospective professions, a lot of students choose this career path without really thinking about their own desire for their career path. If one is to examine closely, many of the medicine students do not have a desire for helping people, but rather enroll in it as a result of parents’ expectation and public recognition. Similarly, the same public pressure turns the students in seeking a Leagues education blindly. Instead of focusing what they are interested in and what they truly want in life, they are more driven in seeking for the fame of a League school.
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As a conclusion, majority voices do have an enormous impact on one’s behavior. However, this adherence is not necessary to be fallacious, but rather depends on one’s judgment in dealing with it. The result of this impact will definitely be undesirable if one is to become a puppet that is string-played blindly by the people and eventually lose his standing. In contrary, if one’s prudent and discerning, the beliefs of the majority will be a wonderful benediction. In the fusion with one’s own wisdom, all these valuable beliefs that are crystallized from others’ experience will be a great bonus, and accelerate one to be one step ahead in making the right choice in life.
Time spent: 40minutes.
Time spent: 40minutes.
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