At the bottom of this post is a picture of me with a ridiculous hair style in junior high. In eighth grade, I was distracted by popularity. Let me explain.
There are two sides to popularity that distract us:
A Hungarian man named Ignaz Semmelweis discovered in 1846 that when doctors washed their hands before delivering babies, the death rate dropped by 90 percent. Unfortunately, despite the evidence he collected, most doctors did not listen to him because it was an unpopular stance. Most people at the time felt it was absurd for a healer, a physician, to cause disease to spread (Markel, 2015). Healing hands cannot be dirty, right?
These passages from The Book of Mormon clearly illustrate we should not change our behaviors or positions because everyone else is doing it. Interestingly enough, I have several friends here in Utah that will not read these passages in The Book of Mormon because they refuse to be a part of a majority culture that prevails in this state. My friends' hesitance towards participating in activities held by the majority show independent minds, strong wills, and healthy senses of skepticism. However, blindness to the truth because of popularity has two sides: some refuse to investigate or participate because the activity or attitude is held among the majority.
In eighth grade, I styled my hair differently from anyone I knew. My main motive was I wanted to be different. I did not want to fit in with the majority. I look back and laugh with a tinge of regret that I abstained from the majority only because I didn't want to be part of the majority.
More important than hairstyle choices is determining what is morally true. It is important to forget about the majority, whether we want to stand out or fit in. I often worry when I look back on my decisions fifty years from now, I will discover I was on "the wrong side of history." However, instead of worrying and predicting what the majority attitude will be in fifty years, I need to remove myself from those thoughts and seriously study and evaluate what is right despite what others think. What is true is true whether or not the majority does or does not believe so.
There are two sides to popularity that distract us:
- We want to follow the crowd and are afraid to discover or do something because it does not conform to the majority opinion.
- We become so obsessed with standing out from the crowd that we refuse to to do something because it is held among the majority.
A Need to Fit In
A Hungarian man named Ignaz Semmelweis discovered in 1846 that when doctors washed their hands before delivering babies, the death rate dropped by 90 percent. Unfortunately, despite the evidence he collected, most doctors did not listen to him because it was an unpopular stance. Most people at the time felt it was absurd for a healer, a physician, to cause disease to spread (Markel, 2015). Healing hands cannot be dirty, right?
Unfortunately, facts do not conform to the majority. In fact, "The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience." This statement made was made by Atticus Finch, a fictional character in To Kill a Mockingbird who takes an unpopular position amidst the popular racist attitudes of his time and culture. Finch's statement demonstrates an important principle: truth is true despite what is popular.
Those familiar with The Book of Mormon will remember Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life. In his vision a building "was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers" at those who were choosing God's path. Some of those who were on the correct path "were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost" (1 Nephi 8:25-28).
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| The building "filled with people" is on the right. This painting is by Greg Olson. |
A Need to Stand Out
These passages from The Book of Mormon clearly illustrate we should not change our behaviors or positions because everyone else is doing it. Interestingly enough, I have several friends here in Utah that will not read these passages in The Book of Mormon because they refuse to be a part of a majority culture that prevails in this state. My friends' hesitance towards participating in activities held by the majority show independent minds, strong wills, and healthy senses of skepticism. However, blindness to the truth because of popularity has two sides: some refuse to investigate or participate because the activity or attitude is held among the majority.
In eighth grade, I styled my hair differently from anyone I knew. My main motive was I wanted to be different. I did not want to fit in with the majority. I look back and laugh with a tinge of regret that I abstained from the majority only because I didn't want to be part of the majority.
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| Me and My Cool Hair Style |
More important than hairstyle choices is determining what is morally true. It is important to forget about the majority, whether we want to stand out or fit in. I often worry when I look back on my decisions fifty years from now, I will discover I was on "the wrong side of history." However, instead of worrying and predicting what the majority attitude will be in fifty years, I need to remove myself from those thoughts and seriously study and evaluate what is right despite what others think. What is true is true whether or not the majority does or does not believe so.
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