Martin Luther King
"Normal" people don't change the world. People who are normal are complacent; they are unmotivated to devise new ways of doing things or finding new things to do.
"That's the way we've always done it" is their mantra, with includes the implication, "That's the way we should always do it".
Rather, it's the malcontents: the complainers, the lazy, the oddballs, and the misfits of the world who get progress up on its feet and moving forward. They are motivated precisely because they don't fit in and cannot afford to be complacent.
"There has to be a better/faster/easier way of doing it" is a classic malcontent sentiment. The malcontent's answer to "That's the way we've always done it," is "Why?". But they are also the ones who say, "Why not?" when coming up with alternatives to doing things as they've "always been done."
Thoughts?
1 comment:
I agree that malcontents and misfits are often the agents of change, however, not all of their change is for the good or is it progressive. Sometimes folks just need to learn the lessons of history first.
For example, most radical Islamics support or condone violence to achieve change. (I'm not lumping the more moderate Muslims in this group.) They typically eschew non-violence as a means of protest. They seem to miss the success of Gandhi and the Rev. King, and perhaps dwell on the thus-far failure of Tibet.
In this instance in my view, these radicals cause a more reactionary impulse in their enemies, which does anything but promote change and achieve their goal of ending Western influence in the Middle East.
Hitler was also a malcontent and misfit and few will argue that he was one the most heinous people in history.
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