Conformity
Uploaded by CaseyG16 on May 24, 2000
A Japanese proverb says, "The nail that sticks out will be hammered down." Society tries to place many rules on us as individuals as to what is acceptable and what is not. We must decide for ourselves whether to conform to such a social decorum. We are taught as soon as we are old enough to grasp the idea that it is bad to be unique and to avoid being different. At some point, however, we must decide within ourselves whether to spend every day trying to be like everyone else because society says we should or living each day true to ourselves. Our strength as a person is proven through what we decide. E. E. Cummings once said, "To be nobody but yourself-in a world which is doing it's best night and day to make you like everyone else-means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting." The benefits of being true to ourselves greatly outweigh any negative aspects of choosing that path.
One of the most obvious advantages of being true to ourselves is that people will see us, perhaps for the first time, without a mask. People will see what we are really like on the inside. They will see our talents, imperfections, and preferences. Then they will have the opportunity to accept us on our own terms. As we work to show our true selves to society, we may discover things about ourselves we did not already know. We all have God-given talents of which we may or may not be aware. After we stop hiding whom we truly are, our talents will have the opportunity to come to the fore.
Second, society teaches us to conform by not thinking for ourselves. We are simply told how to solve a problem or accomplish a task. We are never taught why or how something works. If we do not attempt to break out of that mold, we will never get to the point where we wonder why or how things work. A young child constantly asks "why?" He has yet to realize that it does not matter, according to teachers and leaders of society, why the sky is blue. It only matters that it is blue. Perhaps there is an underlying fear that if we begin to question innocent things like the color of the sky we will one day begin...