The Modern Gadfly

Back in the old days, Socrates was known to be someone that questioned everything about anything and he would constantly disrupt the status quo. He would question, ethics, religion, and nature. Now in the present, we take advantage of knowledge gained from these gadflies and we don't ask questions ourselves. So who may represent a modern gadfly? My best example would be to use myself.

I am the modern gadfly, if you think of Jonathan Eng, most of the time you would think of me as an annoying guy questioning any aspect of life.

Having born in a Chinese family, I have been raised in a way that is different from a traditional American family. I was never exposed to religion, as opposed to most who are every Sunday, and the way I viewed the world is completely different from a lot of my peers. I remember Sophomore year I followed some of my friends to an after school church sponsored program, where half the time was spent playing games, while the other half of the time was spent learning about Christianity. During the half spent learning I was exposed to an entirely different idea of how the world was created. Learning about how God said "let there be light" was entirely different from what I've always known as the big bang creating our planet. Since I was never exposed to this belief, I started to ask and question,  "how could this happen if....." or "then how could that be true if...". I was a Gadfly during those times, because I would question everything I was learning because I was not accustomed to it. I believe I stirred up things in which I questioned someone else's opinion, annoying them in the process.

A social gadfly such as Socrates and myself, is someone who questions life, while annoying others in the process by poking holes through their beliefs. I believe that questioning everything is beneficial in life because no one person in life is ever 100% right about everything, and questioning everything and every point of view is the best way for a person to learn and develop their own beliefs of the world.