Social Acceptance..

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent..."

But that quote makes me wonder, in this continent how much how are the actions of one country governed by the reaction of the rest?? Is it right to assume that one's decision will be avoided just to circumvent the ridicule and mockery of the rest?

Is a person's entire behavioral pattern determined by the masses that surround him?

Now don't get me wrong, herein i don't mean to isolate the souls close to me, the ones whom i look up to when in need for support and encouragement. The ones whom i rush out to, without the slightest hesitance at the oddest of hours, upon being called for help. What i am aiming at is, should i avoid certain actions that appeal to me, that i know for certain are not harming anyone, that i know aren't morally or ethically wrong, just because the people around me would take it as an act of foolishness and brashness and make me a butt of jokes during their endless gossip sessions. What i fail to understand is the fact that, there are a certain aspects of my life where I reserve the right to do whatever I wish, withstanding the points that i stated above are met; yet why somehow time and again i am reminded that I should be avoiding such things?

"Why??" I asked during one heated discussion with my mom one evening, and the answer that I got, though was run of the mill, and an absolutely Indianzed sentence, yet it was utterly confounding for me for i had always assumed that my mom was a rock queen and would not regress to such a statement. She simply told me, "What would people say?". Now how do you make someone understand that I simply don't care about what people say. Those who actually do care about me, well I can understand their concerns and my responsibility to pay heed to them. But at the end of the day, these people are content when they see that i am happy where i am. As for the rest of the people, why does it matter that I am fueling a gossip session of theirs. How does it matter that they will look down upon me, I for one know that I am cheating no one, I have not caused malice to anyone, and if even then i am somehow a cause of amusement for these people and add a bit of excitement to their dreary existence, then let it be.

The question now arises, should a person follow a certain well trudged path, just to makes oneself socially more acceptable, even if it comes at the price of being left wanting more out of life. Why is the need of being universally loved so great that it becomes a focus point of all activities personal or otherwise.

Now I, with all conscientiousness invite comments from anyone who's spared time enough to go through my writings and had the stamina to finally reach till this point. Please do give provide me an insight as to whether I am being a selfish character, caring only about my well being; should i pay heed to the fact that a career shift from a well established, lucrative profession to a place where i yet haven't grazed even the surface, will be looked down upon by a lot of people around me. Is this reason enough to continue with a life that makes me miserable. Am i somehow wrong, or not being able to strike out a balance that would bring some sort of semblance to my life.

I think its a whole lot to ponder for a sunday evening, and I don't really want to addle any more brains. So while I leave this post for the time being to dwell upon my confoundedness. Please do enlighten me with insights that might help me understand the complexities of being a social animal and yet have the independence of being able to enjoy exclusive rights to my life.