On his deathbed, the philosopher Socrates is visited by his old friend Crito. Because of the injustice of Socrates’ sentence, Crito believes that escaping from prison would be the best thing to do. As evidence for his idea, Crito states, “many people who do not know you or me very well will think I could have saved you if I were willing … but that I did not care to do so.” Socrates responds to him by saying “we should not then think so much of what the majority will say about us, but what he will say who understands justice and injustice, the one, that is, and the truth itself.”

The words of Plato, spoken through the mouth of Socrates, hold as much truth today as they did thousands of years ago. There is nothing to fear from negative opinions of the majority so long as our actions are in line with what is true. In our lives, we run into all kinds of pressures from majority opinion: how to dress, what music to listen to, even what kind of demeanor to possess. In order to live a more free and virtuous life, we ought not fear the opinions of the majority. Instead we should zealously seek the truth.

For Christians, the truth is found in God and through Scripture. We are to live our lives according to this wisdom and adhere to nothing else. In his letter to the Romans, Paul encourages believers to live “in accord with Christ Jesus.” This shows that instead of living consistently with values of the world, we as Christians are to live in harmony with the values of Christ and nothing else; especially the values of the majority.

Plato understood, and we should as well, that majority opinions can be fickle. They also can be flat out wrong, but truth remains constant. So in your life, seek truth. Look behind the opinions, look behind the criticisms, live in accordance with Christ, and have no fear of what the majority will think. So long as what you do is right and good and true, you have nothing to fear.