Individuality is the force that drives many great people to accomplish great feats that shape entire societies. If everyone were to conform, then there would be neither progress nor advancement in any field of study.

I was always taught at school that conformity would solve the world’s problems, that society is corrupt because of “radical liberals” who challenge the institution, but I now realize that this is an utterly false statement. Conformity leads to destruction from within, referring to both societies and the individual. When individuality is suppressed, something internal dies, and every time a person is forced to lie to themselves or to others about their beliefs or values, something is changed within them, something is taken away. I feel strongly that people should express who they are through the way they dress or the attitude with which they present themselves to others. Normality is relative and to say that a person is weird or strange because they go against the grain of society is simply absurd. What is normal? Everyone has a different definition of this, so shouldn’t this tell us that what is normal cannot be confirmed.

Self identity cannot be shaped if individualism is not respected. Many people preach about the evil of human nature, demanding that the only way to control this “evil” is to set a standard that should not even be questioned or challenged. But where would America be if this standard was never questioned? Wasn’t our society built on the idea of freedom? Doesn’t America exist because the standard of that time period was questioned? So why is it that we as a society have strayed so far from this initial purpose?

I believe that this is solely because of fear. We all live in fear of something, whether this is a fear of a higher power (God, for example) or a fear of earthly forces (such as natural disasters), but many of us live in fear of the same thing even though we don not recognize this common thread: the fear of rejection or criticism. We go about our daily lives trying to fit in, trying to avoid confrontation and pass under the radar. However, this is no way to live. Individuality should be welcomed, and if this were to happen, self identity would follow.

People should have the chance to get to know themselves instead of having an outsider tell them who they should be or what they should believe in. People have an inherent understanding of what is right and what is wrong, and this understanding is enough, along with a moderate amount of outside teaching, to build a successful society in which free expression is universal and self identity can be formed without fear of what others might think or say.