The Three Myths

Crazy Russian Dad
Nov 6 · 4 min read

“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen”
Albert Einstein

These three myths hold us back.

Myth 1: The way things are now is the way things always were

We think that everything and everyone surrounding us simply “is” just the way we see it. Nothing is further from the truth. Every single thing, person, law, custom, had to evolve. It had to win out against everything else that competed with it for space, oxygen, resources, mindshare, will of the people, etc.

  • “Grandma has always been old”… When kids look at their grandparents they cannot imagine them old-timers as young… Surely grandfather has always had wrinkles, right? Intellectually we kind of grasp that grandparents had to have been young first before they got old, but there is something in us that takes things at a face-value
  • “Schools have always been desegregated” right?… We wish… but no, not true. PEOPLE HAD TO FIGHT, and fight and fight and only then schools allowed people of all colors to commingle.
  • “Beethoven’s and Mozart’s music has always been classical (and boring)”… Not at all — not even close. These were rebels! They were the Kanye Wests and Travis Scotts of the age. They brought something new and exciting! They were innovative, misunderstood and criticized.

Myth 2: The way things are now is right and proper

It is not just that we don’t like to rock the boat. It’s that we don’t even realize there is a boat and it can be rocked. We have a hard time visualizing a different way than the current way. And we usually burn heretics (those who try to shake the status quo) at the stake.

  • “We own slaves, and as long as we are nice to them, it is alright”. Imagine being born in 1830 in the South of United States in a family of slave-owners. And you have slaves. Of course you and your family treat them kindly but still, you are the owners and they are the slaves. Be honest, would it occur to you that “it is not right! All men are equal, and therefore slavery must be abolished”?
  • “The marriage is a union between a man and woman” Just because this is how it has always been does not mean it cannot be challenged. I am not making a political or social statement, I am merely commenting that people will fight tooth and nail to keep things the same and will feel violated by anyone who challenges the “status quo”
  • “Milk is the healthiest substance, my mother gave it to me as a child. Having at least a glass a day helps kids grow and strengthens bones”… Well sure, except now we know certain people are actually lactose-intolerant. Yet some folks still dismiss this whole lactose-intolerance as propaganda (along with allergies and gluten sensitivity). They do not want to give up on their original beliefs.

Myth 3: The way things are now is how they will always stay

We subconsciously feel that everything will just kind of endure in its current form. It won’t.

  • “Facebook is exciting and awesome and is here to stay, right?”… WRONG. Whether it is a year or five years from now — but something else will make Facebook as old and archaic as the AOL service is now. What is shiny and exciting now will become mature, and then old and dusty and eventually go into oblivion or perhaps transform into something else.
  • “Blockbuster is where we rent our videos” … If you do not know what Blockbuster is, you may need to ask your parents (or grandparents)… They were once a staple-store at every mall where people went to rent videos and their longevity seemed as assured as Taj Mahal’s. And then one day a little Netflix showed up and … today we don’t rent videos anymore, we stream them and the mention of Blockbuster can only be found in business white-papers on companies that missed an opportunity to change.
  • “I have always been chubby, and I have always struggled with diets”… This one is tough. Maybe chubby is beautiful or maybe diets are not for you. But if indeed you think weight loss is a worthy goal for you, you can absolutely change. It takes will power, perseverance, determination and most of all “not-giveup-ness”. Plenty of people have done it and have radically changed themselves (established a workout routine, ran a marathon, etc). We all know the stories — and yet somewhere in our core we just don’t believe it applies to us.

I struggle with all of these and I suspect many people do. But maybe by acknowledging them we can be a little wiser and lead a more fulfilling life.

Crazy Russian Dad, November 6 2019.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade