Edgar's Draft

Transcendentalism Ideas and Me

            “Imitation is suicide.” These wise words are the work Emerson in his classic poem Self-Reliance. Conformity and uniqueness are a joke. That being stated I have conformed almost every day in my brief life of sixteen years. Uniqueness is dead and has never existed in the sense that nobody does what you do. People might say “Nobody is exactly like me.”  It is unnecessary to state the obvious. There are no two single people alike biologically but behavior is what truly defines us anyway. As impossible as it may sound some person in the world might also be writing an essay about transcendentalism and drinking orange juice (though theirs will probably be better than mine.)

            Conformity is part of the human experience and all of us want to belong. Conformity is performed all the time in the halls of Brush High School by yours truly. I walk quickly enough to get on class on time and not so slowly that I see the whole school pass me. I wear appropriate clothes to school and call my teachers beginning with Mrs. or Mr. Our society has grown to accept and reward conformity. Whether it be watching the latest terrible episode of Duck Dynasty or listening to the hit single What Does the Fox Say, most young people want to talk and do what their friends are talking and doing. They choose to watch this show and this music to feel in the group. Then there are those other people that don’t fit in that circle of watching Duck Dynasty or listening to What Does the Fox Say. They might watch Workaholics and listen to Kendrick Lamar. Uniqueness is often looked at judgmentally by the conformists and the unique people are out casted by them.  We have each written a set of acceptable behaviors and standards. Those who don’t follow are judged and ridiculed. Yet those people that are pushed out of the socially acceptable circle are the same with many more of those nonconformists and are not that unique to begin with.

STILL NEED TO USE THESE QUOTES SOME HOW OR ADD ANOTHER QUOTE: “I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” “There was never any more inception than there is now, Nor any more youth or age than there is now, And will never be any more perfection than there is now, Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.” 

            Humanity would not be where humanity is if conformity didn’t exist. The same is true for uniqueness. If Thomas Edison conformed to everybody’s idea that oil was the future of lighting and nothing could be done to find a new light source, where would humanity be? If Sham-wows creator just used paper towels, where would people waste $19.99 plus shipping and processing?  If we never found out how to use electricity, I can almost guarantee I would not be typing this essay or be attending this class via internet via electricity. If everybody was truly unique no two people would have the same interests. By saying you are unique you contradict yourself. For example: I’m unique because I am running out of ideas to write an essay about. Yet another person might be stuck in this same situation so I am not unique. Being your own person is one of the most overused, meaningless phrases ever. Choice and action define a person not conforming or being unique.