If I told you that I was a closet Hanson fan, what would you say? Would you laugh? What if I told you that I could name all 150 of the original Pokémon? Or how would you react if I said I enjoyed diagramming sentences in middle school?
We all have our quirks. Unfortunately, we also have the desire to be liked and accepted by others. Thus, most of us suppress these strange urges to study grammar for fun or cross-stitch in front of the other guys. We wear masks to hide our true selves rather than make ourselves vulnerable to ridicule.
In other words, we're all two-bit actors in a society we complain about but do nothing to change.
People respond to these suffocating social pressures in multiple ways.
Case one: there are those who would rather be led than lead. They either can't think for themselves or can't stand the possibility of being ostracized. To make a bad clichéd analogy, these people are like parasites. They find a "host"--another who they wish to embody--and then emulate his or her actions.
Case two: there are those that can think for themselves, but they keep it to themselves. When asked for their opinions, they just tell others what they want to hear. For instance, girl A asks girl B, "Girl C is a real pain. Don't you agree?" Girl B nods her head sympathetically, but 30 minutes later, can be seen in Girl C's room, agreeing with C's complaints about A. You end up questioning the loyalties of these kinds of people.
Case three: there are those who completely reject the idea of conformity. For some unearthly reason, they believe that in order to be an individual, they have to reject all of society's conventions. I had a friend in high school who constantly bragged about being a non-conformist. "I'm sick of those mindless robots in our school. I'm not going to do this because I'm not going to conform." What she failed to understand was that she was sacrificing her identity in order to be perceived as different. She would criticize the girls who wore designer clothes and make-up but would later talk about wishing to get a makeover. Or she would complain about how stupid homecoming dances were, yet secretly yearn to go. Being an individual is not a demonstration. You shouldn't "not conform" just for the sake of "not conforming"; you should "not conform" because you don't agree with it or because you don't want to partake in it. Ultimately, if you're being a hypocritical non-conformist, you're being just as fake as case one or case two were.
This brings us to the true meaning of individuality: being true to your own self, case number four. These people know when to join the crowd and when to stand out. They do certain things because they want to, not because they feel they have to from peer-pressure or because they want to show off. The purest examples of this case are rare for it's difficult not to succumb to social demands; but in the end, they are the ones we strive to be, those that know who they really are.
And yet, it's a lonely and difficult road to stand out and shine as an individual being. Others groan when you tell them that you want to watch a foreign film with--heaven forbid--subtitles. Some people smirk and snicker behind your back when you wear something unusual. People will ridicule you if you express strong opinions that they don't agree with. And don't tell me that you don't know what I'm talking about because we've all been those people before, at one time or another: the ones that bring people down. Is it because we're insecure and want to buoy ourselves up? To be able to say, "Look, I'm better than these people!" But are we really?
Instead of laughing at these people or talking about them behind their backs, we should be supporting their efforts to bring more zest to a standardized community. We should stand and applaud that boy in the middle of the quad, wearing a kilt and playing his bagpipes. We should cheer on those that will play country music to the same deafening level as the usual pop or rap. We should embrace the ones that stand up for themselves, the ones that dance in the rain, the ones that relish in knowing who they are in a confusing and hectic world. These people are the true fruits of the earth; don't you want to blossom, too?
Perhaps Hanson says it best when they sing, "If only I had the guts to feel this way." Yes, if only we had the guts, indeed.
Jina Jang is a Trinity sophomore.
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