The following will be produced, hopefully by summer's end, as a YouTube video with hopefully only minor edits. Watch for it on my channel. I will announce it on my blog when I finish. Running Slug Productions is proud to present...
Over twenty years ago, I was introduced to a psychological exercise on the powers of negative peer pressure. In a particular religion class, one teacher had the great convenience to have all of the power players in the high school, the people like whom all the other students aspired to be as his students. These included for example the varsity football captain, the head cheerleader, the student body president, and the eventual valedictorian. The teacher drew four symbols on the board: circle, star, oval, and square and gave the students specific instruction. He then invited another teacher to send over one of his freshman.
The freshman timidly knocked and entered the room. The teacher invited him to occupy a single vacant seat at the head of the class in the front row. The freshman could not believe himself when he discovered himself in a class with all the most prominent members of his high school. Even more amazing, they accepted him as one of their own, inviting him to sit with them, joking and laughing with him, and making him feel quite at home.
Then the teacher began the test. He turned to the varsity football captain and asked him to help with a visual experiment and to describe the four objects on the board. He began naming them, according to the instructions: "circle, star, oval, triangle". The freshman, who couldn't believe someone he so admired could have made such an obvious mistake, laughed aloud. Quickly, he noticed he was the only one laughing, and the students turned to him with that look of disdain that only seniors can muster towards freshman. He slunk a little in his chair.
The teacher continued. Each of the others in the front row continued to name the objects "circle, star, oval, triangle", and every time, the freshman sank lower in his chair. Beads of sweat formed on his brow. He knew as he looked around that soon the time would be his to go through the exercise and he was nervous.
At length, it was his turn. Everyone's eyes were upon him. Tepidly, he began, each word phrased as if it were a question.
"Circle?" he began.
"Good..." said the teacher.
"Uh, star?"
Silence. You could have heard a pin drop.
"...er...oval..."
At this point, the freshman paused and looked around. He knew that it was a square. Would his admiration for all of these power players corrupt his judgment of what he knew? One of the others in the class prodded him, "What's the last one?" The time for decision had come.
The freshman timidly knocked and entered the room. The teacher invited him to occupy a single vacant seat at the head of the class in the front row. The freshman could not believe himself when he discovered himself in a class with all the most prominent members of his high school. Even more amazing, they accepted him as one of their own, inviting him to sit with them, joking and laughing with him, and making him feel quite at home.
Then the teacher began the test. He turned to the varsity football captain and asked him to help with a visual experiment and to describe the four objects on the board. He began naming them, according to the instructions: "circle, star, oval, triangle". The freshman, who couldn't believe someone he so admired could have made such an obvious mistake, laughed aloud. Quickly, he noticed he was the only one laughing, and the students turned to him with that look of disdain that only seniors can muster towards freshman. He slunk a little in his chair.
The teacher continued. Each of the others in the front row continued to name the objects "circle, star, oval, triangle", and every time, the freshman sank lower in his chair. Beads of sweat formed on his brow. He knew as he looked around that soon the time would be his to go through the exercise and he was nervous.
At length, it was his turn. Everyone's eyes were upon him. Tepidly, he began, each word phrased as if it were a question.
"Circle?" he began.
"Good..." said the teacher.
"Uh, star?"
Silence. You could have heard a pin drop.
"...er...oval..."
At this point, the freshman paused and looked around. He knew that it was a square. Would his admiration for all of these power players corrupt his judgment of what he knew? One of the others in the class prodded him, "What's the last one?" The time for decision had come.
We live in a world full of negative peer pressure. There are people all around you who will try to convince you that good is evil and evil good. They will try to get you to join in with them to justify their aberrant and abhorrent behaviors and beliefs. They are looking for people to bring down, and if they can get you to join in with them, they will use it to rationalize themselves. Remember that not everyone is doing it.
One of my great heroes is Sir Thomas More. During a time of great ideaological upheaval, he stuck to his beliefs even to the loss of his life. King Henry VIII sought unanimous approval for his divorce from Catherine of Aragon so that he could wed Anne Boleyn. In one of his letters to his daughter, Margaret Roper, he told her that sometimes we must stand fast a little at the risk of being heroes. During one of his interviews in the Tower of London leading up to his execution, we see this dramaticized exchange:
"Some men think the earth is round; others think it flat. It is a matter capable of question, but if it is flat, will the king's command make it round and if it is round will the king's command flatten it?" What More means in this scene is that no man on earth can declare something to be good or brave or true unless it actually is so.
In his book, Human Action, Ludwig von Mises deals with values. He explains that it is not true that virtue does not pay. He explains that the people who choose to live virtuous lives value virtue more than any advantage the alternative affords.
Be More. There will be people who will tempt you to be less than that of which you are capable. There will be people who will attempt to get you to lower your standards for either a little temporary pleasure or security. However, one of the chief causes for failure and unhappiness in life is when we trade what we desire most for what pleases us at that moment. In our scene, the freshman faces accolades and acceptance by his peers or being true to what he has been taught.
You may be asked to come along, 'for fellowship'. The people who ask this of you do not do it for you. Your 'friends' may make mention of how your spiritual, legal, financial and social status is on the line for your submission to group think. Any person who offers you or invites you to participate in something that they know is contrary to your principles is no friend. You can be better than that. You can be the miracle. You can be More.
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