One Among Billions

What if I were to ask you to think about what makes you, well, you? What separates you from the rest of society? What form of expression makes you an individual? I’ve always believed that expression is the essence of life. It creates and molds who we are, inside and out. It grips one tiny detail about a person and blooms throughout his or her life. Uniqueness makes a person. They can float through life – living as others live, seeing what others see, believing in what others believe in – or they can escape the silent killer formally known as conformity, spread their wings, and fly away. English author Margaret Drabble once said, “Our desire to conform is greater than our respect for objective facts.” Although our human nature may be to conform, both the past and present prove that conformity is a dangerous path and that being an individual is key to having a balanced life and a balanced world.

Whatever society claims as “normal” is what people tend to flock to. They want to be accepted and loved, even if getting to that point means losing their morals and/or common sense. People are sheep, and if one person or one group of people isn’t following the herd, they are looked down upon and the rest of the flock doesn’t want anything to do with them for fear that they too will be looked down upon. Sometimes the shunning turns to brute force, and the rebel herd is exterminated. Nazi Germany is a great example of this “conformity gone wrong.” All it took was one, charismatic man and a nation of fearful souls for the horror of the Holocaust to take place. Germans were forced to believe that Jews and other minorities of the time were vermin that they needed to rid Germany of. If someone or a group of people would’ve spoken out against the conformity and against the genocide, the Holocaust may have not been so severe or even had happened at all.

Let’s fast forward to the 1950s and 60s. The Cold War is in its start and families are fearful. They’re convinced that suburbs are a nicer place to raise children, and since their neighbors are moving there, they should too. These suburbs were quaint and almost identical in every single way. Neighbors had the same TV, the same washing machine, and the same clothes. Husbands went to the same type of job. Mothers stayed home and did the same type of housework. Kids went to the same school, played the same games or sports, etc. There was no room for individuality. People even believed in the same ideals or concepts. During this time, if you had a Russian friend or neighbor, they suddenly were dropped for fear that other friends or neighbors would look at you differently or think badly about you. You were “helping the enemy” if you didn’t comply with conformity. Cult-like, isn’t it? Other groups soon formed along the way, each one having its own brainwashing method. The KKK, just like the Nazis, was convinced that it was “cleansing” the nation of vermin. The Manson Family and what they did could’ve been avoided if they came to terms with morals and realized that they shouldn’t follow what one, crazed lunatic had to say. And Jonestown, well, they all could’ve been alive today if they didn’t drink the punch. Just because one person does it, doesn’t mean everyone else has to, and vice versa.

In today’s society, conformity has gone from mass genocide and suicide to making yourself look ridiculous and causing self-destruction. Think about all the trends that have come and gone, and sadly kept coming back: Ugg boots, Boston clogs, Crocs, and lately, “Pants On the Ground.” Why spend $200+ on a pair of boots that have no true function? They’re ruined if they get wet, so that takes away the option of wearing them as snow boots or rain boots. It’s much too hot in the spring and summer to wear them (depending where you live). But they were oddly enough designed to wear to Australian beaches. It doesn’t make an ounce of sense to me. All these boots are is just a death wish for your wallet. Clogs, Crocs, and sagging pants, however, attack from another angle: your stability. I’m quite certain you’ve seen, at least once, a teen losing their clog in mid-step or some wannabe tripping over his jeans. They end up tripping over themselves and sometimes even falling flat on their face. Along with looking like a fool, they get hurt. Crocs hold the worst danger of these trends: amputation. Accidents upon accidents have been reported involving escalators, Crocs and their imitations, and small children. Just because they’re comfortable does not mean they’re safe to wear outside your home. You wouldn’t wear slippers outside your house, would you? Crocs were not made to last in today’s environment.

Who’s to blame for these horrific trends? Hollywood, that’s who. I mean, who else would bring you great fashion tips like Stacy London and Clinton Kelly do on What Not To Wear. Why does America need to tell people what’s “in” and what’s “out?” Who’s to say that celebrities are even creditable critics? A lot of the ones that receive the most attention aren’t even responsible enough to be idolized. It’s sickening to see young teens prancing around emulating Paris Hilton and Chris Brown. These are the people that brought us One Night In Paris and Rhianna-beating. It’s really sad to know that American society has degraded to worshiping and emulating these wanton celebrities.

Fashion and teen idols, however, aren’t the worser of conformity in this day and age. One doesn’t have go too far to find the epitome of rogue conventionalism. Drugs, alcohol, and the pounds of peer pressure that go along with them are going to be the death to the American teenager, figuratively and literally. Both the media and society put too much pressure on using drugs. I’m not just talking about marijuana and other illegal drugs, but also prescription and nonprescription, pharmaceutical drugs. There are more commercials and ads for antidepressants, weight-loss, and other store bought drugs than there are for any other product. And alcohol isn’t far behind that. We push the use of drugs and the consumption of alcohol on people more than we push the D.A.R.E. campaign. The pressure to drink or to use drugs is at an absurd rate in America. It’s not cool and it won’t make you any more popular. All it will do is make your grades drop, make your friends lose respect for you, and make you lose respect for yourself. If taken to the extreme, you could even lose your life. Keep a clear mind. Focus on how you want to see yourself and not how others see you. If your “friends” want you to try it, even just a little bit, odds are they’re probably not truly your friends. Friends don’t put other friends in danger, bottom line.

Why would you want to be anybody other than yourself? Where’s the thrill in imitation? Why would you choose to be a zombie or a sheep? You have a brain, so use it. Don’t worry what other people think about you, because in the end, their opinion doesn’t make you any more or less of a person. It won’t change you one bit. If people make fun of you for being who you are, shrug it off. Words are only words, and when they come out of someone else’s mouth, it makes them even less true. I’ve had my share of ridicule, but I’ve had even more praise for just being me. Most people are actually just afraid to be different, so it takes one different person to show them that expression is a great thing. Heck, sometimes they even comment on how they’re too afraid to pull something off, like say, zipper earrings or glow-in-the-dark, leopard print skinny jeans. They’ll mention something along the lines of how random or odd they are, but in a good way. Honestly, I don’t care if they’re telling the truth or not because I like them and they make me smile. I’m quirky and I wear weird things, so what? At least I’m being myself, and that makes me feel better than anything. Acceptance isn’t a need for me. Yes, in school it may seem like all the “popular” kids are in one click and the outcasts are in another, but that’s not real life. School is just school, and all of your peers know just as much about the world and how it works as you do, which is mostly just what you see on TV (which isn’t the best informational resource). Once you get out, your eyes are opened to this brand new environment called the real world, where who your friends are or what clothes you wear doesn’t make you who you are. Just being yourself is going to get you your dream job, not whether you wear Uggs or not.

So, have you thought about what makes you you and what separates you from the rest of society? Do you even express yourself at all, or are you like the rest of the world, engulfed in the swarm of bad trends and conformity? Do you play follow the leader, like in Nazi Germany? Do you buy a product just because it’s endorsed by that one celeb you oh so want to be like even though you’ve heard and seen the hazards it entails? Are you thriving to be in the popular crowd even though it means losing every sense of yourself? Well, I should hope not. You need to be the lone wolf in a nation of sheep. You need to see past the glimmer of dangerous trends. You need to want to be you no matter what people say. It takes one person to make a difference, even if that difference is limited to that one person. At least they’ll stand out and be recognized. They’ll forever be known as being the one among billions.

~ Misery Chick