GOOD SHEEP BAD SHEEP

Some would say I am too analytical, and too much of a thinker. Perhaps I am deep and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But, here’s my question: “If you don’t think about the way things are, how are you going to change anything? If you don’t question the way things are done, then surely you will continue to create the same mess you are in?” 

Albert Einstein says: “We can’t solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them.”

Yes, I am a thinker and yes, I do question everything. I always have. I was the kid in class who always had my hand up. If my teacher taught the class a new concept I always wanted to have proof that it was the absolute truth. I have never been a very good sheep. I need to know why we use this and that ratio to calculate a certain equation. I need to understand the reasoning so I can expand on that. Just because society has always done it that way is not enough of a reason to blindly continue. I want to know who implemented those beliefs or structures and I want to explore the possibility of doing things differently.

When I was in grade 7 (that’s what it is called nowadays), there was a click of popular girls in my grade who were doing the rounds on the playground telling a joke. Everyone on the playground would huddle around the leader, as she told her amusing story. Drawn to the contagious shrieks of laughter and not wishing to be left out, I joined the group and begged to be let in on the joke.

The ring leader told her story and as she climatically finished her tale the group once again exploded into hysterical laughter. The problem though was that I wasn’t laughing. I didn’t understand what was funny and I asked for someone to explain the joke to me. Without an explanation, the group fell about laughing once more. I really felt a bit of a tool because clearly I was the only one who couldn’t make sense of the joke. Then the ring leader confessed that the joke wasn’t a joke after all. It was merely a test to see how many sheep were on the playground. And do you know that all the so-called ‘cool’ people had been caught. They had all laughed because they were so scared of looking stupid.

And so, the moral of the story which has stood by me all these years is: “Don’t believe everything you are told. Question everything that doesn’t resonate with you.”

I am so glad I am a thinker. And Mike Varrie, if you have read this blog to the end, let me know if there is anything that doesn’t resonate with you. I love being made to think.

Be a bad sheep. Ask questions. Look for solutions and demand to know why. Our society needs more thinkers and problem solvers and less sheep. And if you are now thinking drop me a line and let me know.

Have a great week

Love from the heart

Nicolette