Emily Anderson Mrs.

Brady AP Lang 11/17/2102

Position Paper

Unique thinkers create advancements in society that would have been otherwise unthinkable if they had limited themselves to the bounds of conventional thought. Their efforts to make the world a better place bring about social change. Pioneering thinkers bring change to the world by challenging preexisting social norms. Without them, the world would become a stagnant society. Their thinking goes against the crowd, and is not always accepted. Henrik Ibsens makes a statement about the belief that the majority is always right in his play, An Enemy of the People. Henry Davis Thoreau writes about thinking independent thoughts in his essay Civil Disobedience. His words have affected the revolutions Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Moreover, free thinkers blaze a trail for change to occur. These people are the leaders in the progression of social equality. By challenging the Catholic Church on their corrupt practice of selling indulgences, Martin Luther set an example for not just blindly following the Catholic Church. By doing this he sparked the Protestant Revolution. Imagine if America still allowed slavery, and, without the work of abolitionists and leaders like Abraham Lincoln, this might sill have been a reality. Women who fought for their rights and who did not just accept subjugation of their will helped make America become a more equal society. Tirelessly campaigning for the right to vote, women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton helped spearhead the movement for womens suffrage. Without people who go against the

crowd and challenge the status quo, the world would be an entirely provincial society. Furthermore, inventive thinkers come up with ideas that revolutionize the world, and by doing this they challenge preexisting notions. Isaac Newton discovered that objects in motions stay in motion. He did not accept the previously accepted theorem and his contributions are the basis of modern physics. Visionary thinkers can envision a world made better with their new invention, and open the pathways to innovation. Henry Ford envisioned a factory using interchangeable parts and assembly lines with unskilled workers to make cars affordable to the general public. His model is now the basis manufacturers use when building factories. Later, Steve Jobs insistence that technology can be completely integrated into one device led to the boom of the smart phone era. Without these novel thinkers many of the things we take for granted in this world may not exist. Without people who wander out from the realm of accepted thinking, our world would be nowhere like what it is today. Unique thinkers should be celebrated for their contributions.