Capital

Passion or mainstream?

On many occasions, one of the hardest things I have to do is deciding between following what I am passionate about and what is seen to be the normal path for me to take. It is a difficult decision. Do I follow the norm, or do I simply do things according to my passion? One could tell me to do what I am passionate about, or to trust the normal path and follow it. It is easier said that done.
According to Adam Smith, happiness arises from being loved, and we constantly depend on the moral approval of others. In his book titled Theories of Moral Sentiments, Smith suggests that we judge our actions in accordance to what others can go along with, and therefore we do things in order to get other’s sympathy. (Yes, Adam Smith, the man we consider to be the father of Capitalism, wrote on moral sentiments). This is what psychologists later on called the “approval motive” and they suggest that we are affected by the normative influence, which is when a person’s behavior is influenced by what is believed to be appropriate. So, if we agree with what Smith and the psychologists say, that it is in our nature to seek approval from others, to act according to what is acceptable in our surrounding, then we can affirm that completely disregarding the norm is not just difficult but close to impossible.
Does it mean that we should suppress our individual passions and have lives dedicated to following the social norms, the mainstream? It depends what is on each individual’s agenda, and how much common ground there is between an individual’s passion and the social norms.
A week ago, I was talking to a friend from an East African country who just started her first year at Harvard, and she was telling me about her dilemma concerning the academic field she wants to focus on. There was a gap between what her passion is and what her family and her community expected of her. As being the only student from her country to come to Harvard this year, she feels an obligation to serve her country, to be useful in her community, to bring about positive change. She wants what is best of her, and her family and her community think of the best for her as well. But, the one difference there is, her passion leads her towards Chemistry and she enjoys it very much, but her family and community think that “there is nothing she can do with Chemistry” and that she should do something like Engineering or Computer Science, which she can later use in her country. She is a very hardworking person, and high-ranking politicians in her country seem to like the idea of her doing Engineering as it is a skill the country desperately needs. Her family thinks Chemistry is not worth it, and her friends believe that she would be wasting an opportunity if she does something like Chemistry; after all, if it is just Chemistry, according to her friends, she might as well do that in one of the universities in her home country. When she asks her new friends at Harvard, they tell her to follow her passion, but she is not yet convinced, as it is a Western perspective that might not necessarily apply in an African country. Academic advisors tell students to do what they enjoy, and that this is a key component in building intellectual curiosity and to a healthy and rewarding academic experience.

What should she do?
Her agenda is to make the best out this opportunity and meet her obligation to her country. Is she going to be more effective at meeting these objectives by following her passion, or by living up to her community’s expectations? She wants to do what she, as just one person, thinks is best. Her community’s view is a combination of many people’s knowledge and experiences, especially about what her country needs. Should she give up her passion to please others, or is the general consensus better for her in the long run? What is that consensus based on, and is it confined only to the people’s views and experiences or are they thinking beyond? For example, if I know 10 people who have made a fortune as accountants, while another 10 people who are struggling to make a living as historians, my judgment would be that following the accountant’s route would be profitable. Also, let us consider that no one has better knowledge of her character, of her strengths and weaknesses than she does.
The challenge she faces is very similar to the kind of challenges many of us face: to follow passion or the mainstream? The mainstream idea might have been tested and proved to be working.
Those questions are for you to ponder about. But here is a question you can respond to through email: what do you think that girl should do? You may use the address below to send me your responses and thoughts about her situation and her options.

Yoseph can be reached at askyoseph@gmail.com