How to Conform in One Easy Step.

Let me know if anybody can relate to this: I parked the car, turned the engine off, grabbed my keys, exited the car, and closed the door. I sighed as I realized the distance that I was about to walk. "I can't believe the only available parking spot was two and a half miles away from the seminar!" I grunted to myself. Whether or not I believed it, the place was packed; apparently the big game was scheduled for the exact same day. "This is what I get for leave five minutes late." I sighed again and exited the full parking garage. The sidewalk crowded with people who, like me, had no choice but to walk the long distance. As I moved with the crowd toward my building, I began to develope a slight migraine because the sun was making me shoot Arabs. I tried to keep moving while squinting, but the unforgiving rays of the sun were really starting to annoy me. I looked down and instead watched the feet of the people in front of me as I continued the arduous journey. Every so often I would glance up to see where I was, but the tyrannical sun would push me back down as though I were a disgruntled peasant on the verge of revolt. I eventually gave up the fight and allowed the sun to win the day (this time); besides the rhythmic pace of the feet in front of me was quite soothing. I allowed myself to be put in a trance as I followed this unknown person's feet. I was almost unconscious when my fellow citizen of the human race ceased his movements; I just barely stopped myself from colliding into them like some sort of intoxicated mule. "Pardon me," I muttered as I sidestepped to avoid the impending embarrassment. I finally looked up and saw the sports stadium in front of me... CRAP!!!! I had walked nearly a mile further than I was supposed to!!!! My vocabulary expanded generously at that moment as I filled the air with noise pollution. "Well... If I was going to be late before, I sure as heck am going to be now," I mumbled to myself as I began backtracking. You would not believe how much easier it was to find where I was supposed to go without the sun in my eyes. Why was the sun not in my eyes? Because it was dark by the time I realized what had happened, smh. Now that I was actually able to see where I was going, I saw the old paved trail leading to the desired building. (^Fiction)

In Dead Poets Society Robin Williams discourages the kind of behavior which I exhibited here, a type of behavior which is far too common in our culture. Often times it is too hard to look up and see the world around you and make your own decisions. I don't think it is farfetched to say that everybody has a role model who they look up to and say,"I want to be just like him/her!" I would say these are the feet that you see when you look down; their rhythmic beat is the drum beat which you march to. The direction they're pointed is the direction we move in... Transcendentalists would say that it is time to look up and make your own decisions and I would tend to agree to an extent. Transcendentalists tell us that it is time to look up and find or forge your own path. I say that it is okay to follow in the influence of somebody else, but first you have to look up and observe where the path is headed and make your decisions based on that. With all my heart I want everybody to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and recognize Him as their Lord and Savior; however, your parent's faith isn't going to get you into heaven. Your faith has to be your own faith or else you are simply going to walk off the edge like a lemming. Don't say that you believe in God because my parents said such and such or because whatshisface said x y or z. Don't say that you don't believe in God because my friend said q r s t u and v or because this scientist over here proved j k l and m. By all means, use sources of people smarter and wiser to cement your beliefs, just don't blindly share the faith or belief or another person without exploring said faith or belief yourself. In the future when somebody asks you why you believe something or don't believe something, first give a personal answer of how you reasoned to it or, if you're a romantic, how you were emotionally drawn to it. Then absolutely give facts from other sources to support your point. This blog post was to illustrate how there is a vital tenet of transcendentalism which is ignored by the world, and how by incorporating it into our day to day lives we can truly seize the day as it truly should be seized. #dontwasteyourlife  

So, the one easy step to conform...

1, Look down...