Fitting In Is Overrated

Couldn’t agree more. And also that the concept is quite relative. Why you might ask. Well, in that case, there would be ample such instances to substantiate the earlier claim of mine. Courtesy: The constant sneers, remarks and unnecessary glances at all those individuals that’ve perhaps dressed a little differently or have a few crimson or violet strands hanging loosely from their head.

All those times we either indulge in being judgemental or gang up to put forward our narrow, dilapidated mindsets into the minds of others too, thus polluting them as well. Now, let’s try to dig a little deeper. When matters come to fitting into the so-called societal conventions, we could perhaps be applauded for being not so creative with our own lives and doing exactly what the society would expect us to do, but under any circumstances that doesn’t give us the authority to curse others that haven’t joined the bandwagon with us. 

Who could say if they would’ve fitted into the conventional standards of the society, would we have a Savitribai Phule, Sarojini Naidu or a Sunita Williams? And even if some people do “fit in", all that we get to hear from them years later is that they want to renounce the world now, and it was a bad decision on their part to have not followed their career and gone with the flow. 

Now, how do you justify that kind of a paradox? This gets me to talk about a relevant topic that isn’t very old, one from the diaries of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. There have been several books written and films made about how ruthless the Taliban had been towards the people of the Afghan society, especially the women. In such a society, women couldn’t travel alone on the streets, and if they did ever, they’d be beaten up brutally. 

No music was allowed inside the houses of the Afghans, they had to pray five times a day, and there are countless such examples to elucidate their tyrannies. Who could be justifying that? And why is it that young, meritorious Afghan women that leave their houses to build their career never want to return back? They want to enlighten others of their clan so that they could indulge in doing something similar, that would, in turn, be helping others that need help, but never to return to their homeland, with the mere fear of their efforts being stopped altogether.

Now, in a nutshell, we may safely deduce that even though there isn’t any harm in adjusting oneself with the societal conventions, those that do not choose to go by the traditional path need not be cursed too. May we be reminded of that fact again where it’s mentioned that a plane flying high up in the sky, doesn’t often go with the wind, but against it.