This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedanta. In the 1920s, a young Englishman was stationed in

Burma, now Myanmar, working as an officer in the Indian Imperial Police Force.

Early one morning, he got a phone call, an elephant was ravaging

the bazaar. Would he please come and do something about it?

Arriving at the bazaar, the officer learned that the elephant had killed a man and damaged a bamboo hut.

He asked for a rifle in case he needed to defend himself.

Once he began to make his way toward the animal, weapon in hand,

a crowd of villagers began gathering around him, shouting excitedly.

The officer didn't want to shoot the elephant. He didn't think shooting the

elephant was necessary. But standing there, surrounded by some 2,000 villagers,

he felt that he no longer had a choice.

In his words, suddenly I realized I should have to shoot the elephant after all.

The people expected it off me, and I had got to do it. I could feel there 2,000 wills pressing

me forward irresistibly. To come all that way, rifle in hand, with 2,000 people marching at my heels and then to trail feebly away having done nothing?

No, that was impossible. The essay, Shooting An Elephant, was published in 1936 by the British writer George Orwell.

It's a dramatic rendering of a widely shared

experience. We often encounter pressure from others to do things. Do we

comply, compromise, or resist.

This week on Hidden Brain, how to navigate the demands of other people

while staying true to ourselves. You're going to. Living among other people, holding down a job, raising children, cultivating friendships, means that you

feel a never-ending stream of requests, invitations, and orders.

Your boss wants you to take on an assignment.

...