Imitation+is+suicide

Imitation is suicide; spoken by Ralph Waldo Emerson, those words correctly express the state of most individuals today who try to fit the status quo. The society that exists today tries to thrust all these social must-dos into its members and has done away with true individualism by marketing these prerequisites as uniqueness. Unfortunately, this has led Americans to live in a preset timeline established by the country’s social elite and their habits and preferences, and most people find no fulfillment in the life that they’re obligated to follow. Instead of letting others decide the course of his or her actions, everyone should just disregard the pressure to tag along with widespread trends and pursue his or her interests and goals not directly guided by the opinions of others. When people constantly get caught up in avoiding social taboos, they tend to lose themselves in the patterns of their environment.  Many of the “cultural” aspects of the modern world are all predetermined by a handful of individuals who hope to encounter some sort of benefit in their activities. Fashion is the most prominent example of manipulated conventions within civilization because much of the population is often concerned about the clothes, shoes, and accessories that are generally acceptable in the eyes of the world. Another guideline of American life that citizens are expected to abide by is the quest of the “American dream” that everyone must take upon himself or herself. A large house, a luxurious car, a steady income, and all the other things that one is taught to be “success” consume most of the precious years of life, and ultimately, they do not even grant happiness. Also, through the pressures of society, everyone is always supposed to say, think, and do the things that “everyone else is doing”, but anybody who jumps through all these hoops never really gets to give voice to opinions and contemplations that would enrich the condition of the world, even if by a little bit. Society has set a system and expects all to operate by its protocols, but at the same time, that very system uproots many of the oddities and unconventionalities that keep everyone conscious of both reality and imagination.  Innumerable multitudes fall in line with the expectations of society to have the same things that other people have, and a surpassingly large sect of this group do not feel satisfied when all's said and done. When one decides that copying others is better than acting upon one’s own stead, he or she denies the opportunity to show everybody their own personality and instead, replaces it with someone else’s. This might prevent public embarrassment in some cases, but when it is prolonged, imitation eventually makes one forget his or her true identity, which can be devastating. Having a role model is of no harm, but living life the way that role model would live it suggests that one is letting someone else live their life for him or her. Many feel unsatisfied with their own selves, but in an attempt to be someone else, they waste away the one life that’s given to them and don’t recognize it until they’re too far into it.  In order to avoid such despair, people should just act upon their own thoughts instead of trying to be like someone else in the world. Some find it hard to do that because they do not approve of the faults and weaknesses in their own character, but everyone is imperfect with no exceptions. Since flawless cannot be used to describe anyone, one must accept the shortcomings that may be stumbled upon and move past them to flourish where they are planted, no matter what’s inside or around. By doing so, contentment in oneself can be achieved, and the real personality, not one molded to replicate another, would be brought out for everyone to see. Copying others kills that inner being as long as the masquerade is kept up, while revealing one’s true nature allows it to develop.  When people try to have the same qualities of others, they unknowingly smother the qualities that they already can identify themselves with. Society constantly places pressure upon the population to copy what everyone else is doing, and this has a powerful influence in most areas of the culture. Nevertheless, regardless of whatever effort people make to go along with accepted fads, they rarely seem satisfied with an identity that’s not theirs. The only identity that could be enough for a person is his or her own because even with its imperfections, it’s what he or she has to work with. Imitation is suicide because when one is someone else, he’s no longer himself, and what his existence consists of is passed into obscurity.