When To Be A Fringe Lunatic

“Every reform movement has a lunatic fringe.” – Theodore Roosevelt

In many, many studies on human behavior, psychologists find that there is a typical (“normal”) distribution curve.  It is a curve we’ve all seen before…that looks like a bell.

“Some People”…the Lunatic Fringe?

The peak of the curve is roughly in the middle, and represents the highest number of people exhibiting a particular behavior.  The left and right edges represent the lowest number of people exhibiting a particular behavior, or belief.

Those edges are sometimes referred to as the “fringes”.  And the fringes often represent radical or extreme behaviors or beliefs.

So which do I aspire to be?  A person who behaves or believes (or has a perspective) near the center, near the ‘norm’, near the area most consistent with most of my fellow human citizens?  Or a person who behaves or believes on the fringes, where those behaviors and beliefs can be the most extreme?

The answer, I think…is both.

Truth is, I think there are situations that should call for (and that should be a warning against) each position.  Here are some of those situations, for your consideration.

When NOT to be a Fringe Lunatic

1. When deciding how we react to stress or worry.
2. When absorbing “the news”.
3. When passing judgement on events or people, without a depth of knowledge.

When you SHOULD be a Fringe Lunatic

1. As a Leader, when setting the expectations of my organization through empathy, action and consistency.
2. As a Father, when showing my children their vast potential…and infusing them with confidence and humility.
3. As a Partner, living each day to lift up and walk beside the one I’ve chosen to spend my life with.
4. As a Friend, when responding to the needs of those people who have been there for me.
5. As a Human, when determining my actions by what promotes unity…

With all that’s going on in the world right now… I choose when I SHOULD and SHOULD NOT to be a fringe lunatic.  This is not a political statement.  This is a decision to be measured in my reactions to the great many issues we are witnessing, and being bombarded with, daily.  This is a decision to seek perspective from the entire distribution curve, and to act in a way that empathizes with the views of others, but also filters those views through a prism of decency and common sense that is often present with the too-often-silent majority. 

And most importantly, this is a decision to recognize when behaving or believing at the ‘extremes’, actually moves me in the direction of becoming my best self.  A man capable of living to his potential as a Leader, a Father, a Partner, a Friend…and a Human.

I don’t think my position is too radical.  Do you?

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