Psychosocial

“Do we even know who we are?
Living like all life is forfeit?
Like we could just go redefine it, regardless what we broke?”
Poets of the Fall

So, this time last week I had finished reading a book called “The Fountainhead” written by Ayn Rand. It was one of the most interesting books I had read. It was also by far the most out of the box one I had read. For those of you who haven’t read it, let me tell you just this much- it’s about a man called Howard Roark and what he makes of his life as an architect. It’s basically the story of Howard Roark, architect. At the start of the book, in an interview with the Dean of his college, Roark merely asks why it is that they are encouraged to make copies of buildings made of wood in marble and then follow that up by copies of the marble buildings in steel and concrete. He wants to know where the originality is in the architecture he is being taught here. Roark ends up being expelled. Throughout the book, Howard Roark is criticized for trying to be original, for trying to give a building more than just an exoskeleton, for trying to give it a soul.


This got me thinking. Clearly, I was reading about a man who had reached the zenith of his chosen profession. Not only did he understand the principles of architecture but also the purpose of it, the meaning of it. He also wanted to build on those principles, to create something new. By wanting to do that, the entire society he lived in regarded Roark as a threat. They thought he was a freak. They felt he was a criminal.

Where have we heard this story before? Let us look at Socrates. His only crime was he was a homosexual. Leonardo Da Vinci, one of the most brilliant minds of the century, was shunned. Vincent Van Gogh, who is one of the greatest painters in the world, could not sell a single one in his entire life. His paintings are now sold in the millions. Galileo was drawn and quartered for suggesting and later proving that the Earth revolved around the Sun and not the other way around. Because of that breakthrough, so many eons ago, we are able to explore the realms of space today, sending men to the Moon, and rovers to map out Mars.

Doesn’t this strike you as funny? I mean, from day one we are encouraged to set a high target for ourselves, to live by one standard alone- that of perfection. We are pushed hard to get to the very peak of our ability. What happens once we do that? Society sticks a label on our heads, dubs us as freaks and walks off into the sunset. Is that what perfection is? A ticket to eternal snobbing from the world around us?
Of course not.

You see, the thing is very simple. Genius is something we cannot comprehend or appreciate. Genius knows the full range of application of a particular thing, and ensures that it is applied in that fashion. By that act alone the Genius, becomes not a man to be respected, but a threat that needs to be eliminated. A problem, that needs to be nipped in the bud. I guess what I am trying to say is that Society is full to the brim with one class and one class of people only- Hypocrites. They won’t hesitate to exploit you, then all they will do is abuse you. Push yourself they will say. Achieve. Once you do, you are a threat. This is what Ms Rand was trying to say through the book. No surprise then that the book is shunned.

Narrow minded, stupid hypocrites. That's what we share our planet with. Howard Roark realized this a long time ago. He still knew what he wanted to do, focused on it and devil may care about what the world outside thought. That’s the way I look at life. I am what I am, I might not know yet where I will end up, but I will try to use my intellect, instead of mugging up thousands of facts and going through the grinder. Because at the end of the day, as Bon Jovi put it so aptly, “It’s my life, it’s now or never, And I ain’t gonna live forever”.

The Bilge Master