Individualism! Just a word or a meaning in itself?

Man they say is a social animal. We live socially. We tend to be social and with social media each one of us are inclined to be in the realm of social reservations and expectations. From a tender age we teach children to make friends. We tend to push their boundaries to play in groups. We make children think of ‘we’ group rather than ‘I’. We ingrain the need for social acceptance among our children.

We talk about each child to be unique yet subconsciously we develop a clone of them one way or the other. And in the process the child loses his individualism and uniqueness within the spectrum of social obligations. Surely, in some point in our lives we need inter-dependency but with that co-existence come responsible and polite demeanour and rejection and shaming of self and family is a complete no. So the child rather accepts norms and works in the demesne of collective harmony.

Is it possible to draw an in-between these two paradoxes? Can we co-exist within ourselves having both these values ingrained in us? To survive within these two values means compromising yourself. Can the delicate balance of the two keep peace and togetherness? 

Emulating the collective congruence means going with the herd. If the mind set that a group performs better than an individual puts the individualism to shame, then why Messi, Diego Maradona or Franz Beckenbauer the greatest footballer or why is Sachin and Dhoni revered as great cricketers when all these are team games. And yet some of the most celebrated sportsman are from games played by an individual.

Thoughts when germinated into an idea and took shape of multi-dollar business indeed came from individuals and never teams. Leaders became institutions because they stood true to their individualism and unbending attitude towards their own goals.  

The world needs individualism, people who relentlessly work on the ‘I’ than bog down to the coward spec of the ‘we’. There is no dishonour in withholding yourself above everything and everyone because that is all that can make you happy.