If you put a group of crabs in a bucket, naturally some of them will try to get out… but the others will drag any adventurous fellow, pulling it down to make sure it stays in the bucket. One might think that people are better than crabs… but are we really? Isn’t there a universal human behavior that drives us to be jealous of anyone who stands out, and to pull them back into the bucket of anonymity and conformity? The Scandinavians have a name for this – the Jante Law:
Don’t think you’re anything special. Don’t think you’re as good as us. Don’t think you’re smarter than us. Don’t convince yourself that you’re better than us. Don’t think you know more than us. Don’t think you are more important than us. Don’t think you are good at anything. Don’t laugh at us. Don’t think anyone cares about you. Don’t think you can teach us anything.
Doesn’t this sound strangely familiar? Classmates, coworkers, maybe even friends or family? A hurtful word that knocked you down. Silence when you needed encouragement. Jealousy, contempt, hatred. “How dare you be different? Behave like the rest of us if you want us to accept you.”
Fortunately these rules draw their power from everyone’s willingness to abide by them. Nothing prevents us from breaking the Jante Law: all it takes is the courage to do so. Paolo Coelho even proposed a new set of rules he calls the Anti-Jante Law:
You are worth far more than you think. Your work and presence on this Earth are important, even though you may not think so. Of course, thinking in this way, you might have many problems because you are breaking the Law of Jante – but don’t feel intimidated by them, go on living without fear and in the end you will win.
I pledge to live my life following the Anti-Jante Law and I suggest an amendment:
Be yourself. Follow your dreams. When someone tries to drag you down to anonymity or conformity, fight back as if your life depended on it, because it does.
Cedric, 11/29/11
About Crab Mentality: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_mentality
About the Jante Law: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jante_Law
About the Anti-Jante Law: http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2009/01/09/the-law-of-jante-2/
thanks for publishing the cohelo translation 🙂
and above all thank you for the piece!
Some people just do not want to stop. I guess for now, my solution is to avoid them
Yes I try to avoid them as well. However when I do come across one I don’t accept their sneak attacks anymore. I immediately fight back, and it feels so good!