Blurry Line

This afternoon, I was driving on Kalimalang road when a taxi in front of me suddenly stop. Naturally, I swerved to the right. Then a motorcycle horned me. It almost bumped itself to my car. I horned it back, automatically. The driver gave me "the look" which I gave back to him. Then for a moment I got upset.

After a few moments, I played back the incident. It suddenly hit me that, hey, it wasn't the motorcycle's fault anyway. I was the one who swerved abruptly. Why did I do that?
The taxi! It stopped right in front of me with its four wheels still on the road. it didn't even try to pull over.
I could put the blame on the taxi driver, but the fact was I let him did that. I didn't even notice that what he was doing is wrong.
It happens every time anyway. Especially in Jakarta. I have seen it too often and I have noticed that, in the end, people get used to it and learn to tolerate that kind of behavior. Some even mimic it.

When something wrong becomes public behavior, at some point, it starts to be seen like it is the right one. Or at least, a not so wrong behavior.
You've experienced it too, haven't you?
Cheating, for instance, is a wrong behavior that has become a not-so-wrong one because most students do that. To fight against it sometimes even considered as a not-so-cool act. I am not saying that I have never cheated in my entire life. No, I did cheat (in exams) even though I know that cheating is wrong and no cool at all. Maybe only about 3 or 4 times during college, but still...

Cheating is the simplest example. There are a lot of other actions which we have tolerate even though we know they are wrong or against (what we once said as) our lives values. Oh dear, world offers too many temptations, doesn't it? And when (almost) everyone else does the same wrong things, why don't we?
The line is getting blurry as more people accross to the other side. At some point, it is no longer about right or wrong, it is about the majority and the minority. And we all know it has never been easier being the minority.

I, personally, feel safe by join the majority. However, I do hate compromising my values. I hate when that little voice inside me nags about how I should have follow my conscience. And I really hate when I feel like I have traded my dignity for some shallow acknowledgement as if I have only little appreciation for myself. Frankly, sometimes it feels like being other people biatch.
Ignore your conscience, and you will have our approvals.
Forget about your values, and we will think that you're cool.
Compromise your integrity, and you can join us.
A person without conscience, values and integrity? Gee...
At that point, being in the majority doesn't feel fine at all.

Still, sometimes I find myself accross to the other side. It has never been easier, indeed. Ralph Waldo Emerson couldn't be more right about this: "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."