Stories from my past: Challenging the status quo

Bill murray beats the hot wing challenge
Bill murray beats the hot wing challenge
Bill Murray beats the hot wing challenge

One of the things that I used to do when living in a very conservative place was challenge the status quo to help minorities and the rights of the downtrodden.

I did this one way by how I responded to a teachers request to create a law and then argue for it and defend it for 5 minutes in class. The idea is that we were learning about the US government, and this would help us better understand the importance of idea exchange and government.

I deliberately choose a provocative idea and proposed it. I had no idea how they would respond. More than 90% of the town was one religion and they had been taught that was I was arguing for was wrong and bad and honestly I was ready for the pushback. Guess what happened? People laughed and loved it. Some even added their own material when I used double meaning words and they played off of it.

People don’t like being told what to do, but when you explore an idea and the pros/cons you often help people think about things in a different way. The law I proposed was basically to give me 5 minutes of material that I could pun with. I didn’t care to convince anyone of what I thought or said.

My classmates told me after class they thought it was funny and fun and appreciated that I made class a little less boring. You don’t have to convince anyone to change their POV. Sometimes just mentioning something is enough.

See also  10 mistakes we make in our relationship with others