The cognitive dissonance of this world astounds me. All our lives we are told to venerate the risk takers, the thinkers, the rule breakers, and odd balls who broke new barriers. We peer at Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, marvel at Einstein’s theory of Relativity, and peruse Emily Dickinson’s poetry. All the while we are told the greats were exceptional, went against the flow, took risks, and defied the status quo. Then after burning incense at the altars of the rule breakers and regaling one another with their genius, we then are told to be normal and desire a status quo life. What the Farik? After you learn and hear your literature teacher worship Shakespeare and Emily Dickenson who broke the grammar rules of their day, you are then told to follow strict high school and college grammar and composition rules. Why are the greats we venerate allowed to break the rules and defy conventional living expectations, being labeled genius and artist, but the rest of us must conform to a drone ...