The Story of My Hammer: And What Made Me Define My “Nail” as I Did

From all the things I see in college, one thing I understand is that I will get to know some of the truest forms of people who are going to make up the future society.

As always, there are good people, and there are bad people. There are the ones who take command, and there are the ones who take orders. There are the ones who have passions, and there are the ones who just let themselves drift with the flow.

Some acknowledge what’s in the norm, and a few others know enough to live on their own terms.

But here’s a problem with it, the society: It gives a hard time to anyone who doesn’t fit in.

It regurgitates its values, and anyone who doesn’t see it soon is going to be beaten.

Like this guy who was fat. He wore glasses.

He was bullied all the time. He was strong-armed to do and listen to things he didn’t like.

He was the “nail”, and all of the society turned the hammer against him.

He was spoken down to. He was talked ill of. He even received prank calls. It was like he was sort of permitted inside any friend-group just so he could be had for a while, and mad fun of.

And when the society saw it fit, it gave me the hammer, too.

But I had to think.

Yes, I was tempted to use the hammer. Yes, I wanted to show everyone else I can use the hammer. And yes, he looked pretty much like the nail.

Everybody wanted me to poke fun at him. To call him names. To humiliate him.

This is a moral crisis.
As Dante Alighieri put it,

The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.

And that day I decided to be different. To treat that guy with as much respect as I would any of my friends. I wished to do a few good things in life, and start all that with just one act. I didn’t stop what all others were doing to him. I just dropped my hammer. He wasn’t my nail.

Is the society narcissistic?

Partly, yes.

But it’s because those in the society know what works for themselves. They know that by running their own pictures through Instagram, others can find out a way to be happy for themselves. That by telling the world how happy they are, other people can have hope to pursue similar paths and find some success for themselves.

Is the society obsessive?

Partly, yes.

To everything that gives the whole of society a collective contentment.

To anything that gives them chance to happy, and live life on their own terms.

But, I understood being narcissistic about the feelings I have, or being obsessive about my own beliefs about how things should be in life, does not give me the right to be sadistic.
Maybe, after all, I am going to be given a dark place in hell. I was still maintaining my neutrality. He was still bullied.

But that day, I didn’t use my hammer — and I simply could have.

But I didn’t.

And, for me, that has made all the difference.

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Originally published on Medium: https://byrslf.co/the-story-of-my-hammer-5039adb67ebb