Man's Greatest Asset

"Man's greatest asset is an unsettled mind."

I read that quote in my eighth grade literature class. I don't remember the story, the author, or the subject. I just remember that quote. It's stuck with me.

I have always been fascinated with learning, whether it be learning how to do something new or just getting more in depth on topics I already knew about. I constantly shift my beliefs and alter my perspectives (notice I never use the word "change"), thought I firmly hold to a few simple truths. My mind is simply unsettled.

Our society is plagued by people who have loss the ability to think for themselves. We hear of a media bias that tells people the way they should think. If media bias is a relatively new concept, and I do not believe it is, it does not force people to think a certain way; people allow it to do so. Media bias has probably always existed, but not until now do people legitimately allow it to alter their viewpoints. Apparently it is easier just to let someone else think for you than to think for yourself.

America would have never reached its potential without people who wouldn't let their minds settle. Edison would not settle with the fact fire was the best way to light a room. Many extraordinary people would not settle with archaic beliefs about women or African-American roles in society. Our country has morphed into a melting pot of fascinating cultures and experiences, founded by people who would not settle with their homeland but looked for a way to a better home. Why now are we so quick to accept what we are told is normal?

Elisa Luna and Amy Brace are two extraordinary people. They refuse to accept that kids from poor neighborhoods won't make it in this world. They have taken their passions and transformed them into a way to reach out to a community otherwise forgotten. They had the concept of no child left behind way before anyone in Washington thought of it.

Imagine what the world could be like if everyone adopted that mentality. Refuse to accept what is "normal." Whether your passion is music, dancing, sports, politics, writing, drawing, working with children, building, or learning, use that passion in a different way than anyone else ever has, because our world needs. Better yet, our world thrives on it.

"Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity." ~Christopher Morley