In reference to George Bernard Shaw’s quote, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress [change] depends on the unreasonable man” I can not help but be flooded with thoughts and emotions. At first one can think of many famous and notorious people throughout history that fit these criteria, the reasonable Martin Luther King who stands up for freedom and equality for all man, regardless of race and financial statu, the unreasonable Adolph Hitler that insists that the human race be forced into natural selection, eliminating any individuals who may possibly pass on a genetic flaw.

When you take a closer look you have to ask, can progress be measured only in the form of drastic change? The word progress means to move forward, develop to a more advanced stage and a gradual betterment. Anyone who knows me knows that I am the most out of the box; noncompliant individual that you ever what to meet and even I know that progress can not be forced. One look at Martin Luther’s campaign is a clear demonstration of this. Despite the violent acts of the unreasonable opposers of Martin Luther King the reasonable acts of his followers have been credited to the success of his movement. Science tell us that “For every force there is a counter force greater than or equal too the first”. When the human rights activist refused to fight back the whole world stood up in support for them. I have often laughed at the ironic attitude a non conformist embraces. They are so non conformant that they insist the world conforms to their non conformity. When my children were born I learned that there are always two ways to get a desired affect. Any fool can force a person or child into doing something they want them to do. It takes intelligence and understanding to get someone to believe in doing something that you want them to do. Time and patients are the factors that distinguish the difference between these two methods.

If progress depends on the unreasonable man then answer this. Who decided that you should cover your mouth when you cough? Who discovered that 90% of your body heat escapes from your head resulting in the wearing of hats? Who were the educators for the NASA team that landed the first satellite on Mars? The fact is that you probably don’t know the answer to any of these questions because these progresses did not come from unreasonable people they came from reasonable men and women that understood that some of the greatest changes can be in reasonable steps. The problem is few have the courage to act and speak up for these changes on a daily basis.