I recently met with a group of people who all live in the same, small community. We talked about all sorts of things and I often found myself in the minority. At one point the debate became very heated with me on one side and everyone else on the other. To me, their line of thinking wasn't just wrong, but you'd have to be clinically insane to even entertain it as plausible. When it became apparent we were at a stalemate, an opinion leader on the other side made his closing argument, an attempt to put an end to the whole discussion with a simple statement. "All of us are in agreement. All of us see things in exactly the same way and yet somehow you still believe you are the only sane one in the bunch, that you're right and every one of us is wrong. Doesn't that tell you something?"
As I drove home from Bellevue's famous mental ward I reflected on how many times I've had those same debates with colleagues, family members and acquaintances, each time my opponents finding solace and support in being among the majority.
