“The nail that stands up gets hammered down,” said the principal of the primary school where I taught for two years in Armenia.  He shared this insightful proverb to explain why my new students gasped when I wrote on the board with my left hand, and why I was the only lefty in the entire 300-person school!  Non-conformity was not encouraged in Soviet Armenia, and so “the nail that stands up gets hammered down,” was a cautionary bit of wisdom.  Indeed, in many authoritarian countries today, especially in matters of politics, non-conformity can cost you your life.  Those of us who are citizens of more tolerant countries seem to have it easier.  Yet, if we scratch the surface of our free country, how many people are brave enough to take a stand in the face of real power and pressure?  How many people have enough conviction to be the 1 vote out of 100 going against their party, their tribe, and face the consequences of ridicule, rejection and loss of livelihood?  Not many, because whether in politics, business or even church, thinking out of the box and disrupting the status quo comes with a cost…