What is the price one has to pay in order to prove that one is an individual. There are certain members of the population here on earth who feel that they are the only ones who are aware of the truths of this world; that they are the only ones walking around with their eyes open while the rest of the world walks around beneath them in blindness because these people are ignorant of what is right and wrong in this world. Those who pretend to know all the answers sometimes pose as nonconformists. Granted, there are some people who are naturally just different from the rest of the crowd - marching to the beat of a different drummer and all that. But others conform with those who think they are nonconformists in order to look like nonconformists.

Why conform for the sake of being a nonconformist? These people think that being different from the norm makes them unique and individualistic. What they must learn is that people are not carbon copies of each other because they hold a common belief or experience. This does not make that belief or experience ordinary, untrue, or any less passionate. One can share beliefs with others and still hold unique beliefs and be an individual.

Of course, it is wrong to conform to an idea simply because others do. It is wrong to conform to anything that is not within one's creed. That would be dissolving oneself of one's self. However, the converse is also true. If one disagrees with another to pose as an individual, then maybe that person is rejecting a belief or truth to appear a maverick. Believing in something for the sole reason of looking like an individual is just as bad, if not worse, than believing in something because someone else does. Either way, it is not genuine.

Don't you think others hold the same beliefs? Being a nonconformist is not all that original. It has been done throughout time. Although there are always those who don't agree with the accepted view, this should not be criteria for making a decision. One should not say, " I'll choose the opposite from the norm because I don't want to look like others in society."

Here is one theory on this type of people. Those who seem to be nonconformists or "individuals" may only be acting in this fashion because their lives are so pathetically average that they will do anything to be noticed. They think most people follow the leader while they've found the true way to live, when, in reality, they are pretending to be something they are not because they are disappointed with whom they really are.

This is not meant to offend anyone. It is only meant to bring to light a part of the population who has a distorted view of life, and who should find a medium between the two extremes. Do not follow the crowd ignorantly, but do not oppose the crowd ignorantly. Be your own person. Act on your own beliefs. n