Feelings of disgust fill me when I observe the identity of an individual being crushed by the widespread need to fit in with society and be like everyone else. Differences in character, appearance and emotion are created by unique pasts, and form the foundation for personal beliefs. When these differences are erased by society's attempt to create analogous creatures, individualism, a value that I hold in high esteem, is lost. I acquired these values from my personal intuition and from taking the advice of personal mentors as authority.
             Throughout my life, I have been blessed with a combination of two traits; I am observant and skeptical. Watching other people's lives and hearing other people's opinions has given me the impression that the human spirit has been confined to the impersonation of other people's wisdom and virtue. I believe in the saying that imitation is the sheerest form of flattery, but I also believe that it hinders the evolution of a person's psyche. To the best of my knowledge, this is what my intuition on the conformity of mankind is based upon.
             The other source that aided in the rooting of individualism in me is the various authors, poets, and songwriters who I valued as authority. Any sort of publication that celebrates the individual captures my attention and can range from the books and essays of Henry David Thoreau to the rebellious content in the music of Rage Against the Machine. Since I read Walden, Thoreau has branded his interpretation of a famous saying into my brain: "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away."
             A poster on the wall of my bedroom illustrates a beatnik walking in the opposite direction of a crowd of suited businessmen contains a quote: "The dissenter is every human being at whose moments of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and t...