A different kind of response.

"To be nobody but yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight, and never stop fighting."   -- e e Cummings

The first time I read this quote I was like, hey, I really like this.  But then I got to thinking about what someone might say to counter this idea.  I know this isn't the expected writing response, but I just got really excited about arguing something we (myself included) just assume is correct for a change.

What is the fight worth fighting?

I would agree that there is a battle going on, like e e Cummings said in his quote.  But I think that the issue is no longer that we have lost touch with ourselves, it is that we have lost touch with others because of how we try to be different.

For one, there's no togetherness anymore.  We forget what holds us together when we focus on our differences.  Be unique.  Be who you are.  It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.  Oh, really?  To me that is saying You are better than everyone else, no other human beings are worthy of understanding you.  Instead  we should focus on what brings us together.  Can we accept that all people are different, and while we should all take pride in what makes us who we are, deep down inside we're all the same? 

And then what about those who inspire you?  I don't mind being a part of a group of people who I like.  Why must I be different from them, "to be nobody but myself"?  I don't want to be different, I don't want to be unlike anyone else.  In fact, I'd rather be a lot like other people.  I want to be as patient as my mom is.  I want people to identify me with the other talented girls on my water polo team.  I don't want to be like everyone, but I don't want to fail to relate with those around me. 

I'm not trying to say that we should all be clones of each other.  Of course not!  Everyone has their own strengths, talents, cultures, personalities, values, experiences, beliefs, and ideas.  But when we focus on what makes us different we often think of these differences as what makes us better, and this can only lead to more problems. 

How can we conquer racism?  How can we be tolerant of other religious beliefs?  How can highschoolers break the unspoken rules and sit with nerds, jocks, outcasts, and comedians at one lunch table?  Is it not by fighting to be "nobody but yourself".  It is by learning from one another and fighting to overcome what makes us special and realizing that, in fact, we are all the same.