Changing the Way a Person Thinks :: Sociology Cultural Essays

Changing the Way a Person Thinks If you ever happen to pass through the small town of Fairfield, IA, you would probably just think it to be just another normal, rural Iowa town. But like many other towns, there is a conflict hidden beneath the pleasant exterior. Two totally different groups of people have been meshed together in this town. The claim I’ll be making is that one group is counterproductive, but their presence still essential to the town economy. First let me give you some background on the two groups of people. Fairfield was originally the typical rural Iowa town. I see a typical Iowa town as a town in which has a strong agriculture background and yet is striving to become ever larger. Most of the families are in the middle-income division, with a large part of the town also depending on the industrial factories in town. Although most people will accept a gradual growth, many would find it hard to adjust to a sudden, large change. This is what I would call the typical Iowan. The other group of people involved in this situation is a more flamboyant group. I will refer to them as the Meditators. Most are highly religious, with their faith placed in the Maharishi. Most of these people will follow wherever their leader tells them to go. I estimate that this group of people has three thousand people in Fairfield. That means that they take up about one third of the population. These people first moved to Fairfield soon after a local college had been vacated. They used this college by turning it into both a university and primary education facility. They called it the Maharishi International University (MIU). As you can imagine, this increase in population also caused an increase in the local economy. Most of the meditators belong to the upper class and have plenty of money to spend. Many of the meditators are also business entupenuers. MIU has created multi-million dollar businesses in Fairfield that hire from both pools of people. All this seems fine and dandy for the town of Fairfield, but there is actually an underlying problem. Meditators have strong conflicting values with the first group of people. Conflicts of values range from religion to food preference. I will focus on their counter-productiveness. Most of the meditators are vegetarians, which sometimes conflicts with the area farmers. I’m now speaking from personal experience.