Tuesday
07-31-2007, 11:17 AM
This is a question I've been pondering quite a bit lately.
I guess most people know this particular feeling of estrangement and alienation from others, be it their friends, families or the rest of the world. You know that what you're doing really is the right thing to do, but strangely everybody else seems to have a different opinion and you begin to wonder if you're actually right after all.
It's such a complicated question really, because, as cliche as it may sound, genius and madness probably are only seperated by a very fine line. On the one hand history has shown that many people who were very unorthodox in their opinions and very passionate about them have became very important figures of our time. Just think of the many scientists or philosophers who have been persecuted due to their opinions and believes.
On the other hand we have mental asylums full of people who believe that they are important and special...and right.
I guess that pretty much every important person in history at one point in his or her life stood before that inevitable and quintessential question: Is it just me? Are they right, after all? I guess it might be a kind of trial by fire that decides whether or not someone has the guts to put everything at stake for the one cause that he firmly believes in.
But still it's such a difficult question for me, even in my own unimportant everyday life. How do you know that you should keep going even if everyone is against you? Is it not, in the end, a kind of naivety or ignorance that keeps people from giving in?
I guess most people know this particular feeling of estrangement and alienation from others, be it their friends, families or the rest of the world. You know that what you're doing really is the right thing to do, but strangely everybody else seems to have a different opinion and you begin to wonder if you're actually right after all.
It's such a complicated question really, because, as cliche as it may sound, genius and madness probably are only seperated by a very fine line. On the one hand history has shown that many people who were very unorthodox in their opinions and very passionate about them have became very important figures of our time. Just think of the many scientists or philosophers who have been persecuted due to their opinions and believes.
On the other hand we have mental asylums full of people who believe that they are important and special...and right.
I guess that pretty much every important person in history at one point in his or her life stood before that inevitable and quintessential question: Is it just me? Are they right, after all? I guess it might be a kind of trial by fire that decides whether or not someone has the guts to put everything at stake for the one cause that he firmly believes in.
But still it's such a difficult question for me, even in my own unimportant everyday life. How do you know that you should keep going even if everyone is against you? Is it not, in the end, a kind of naivety or ignorance that keeps people from giving in?