Bryan Vachon Dr. Tardiff Theology 3 Honors 24 November 2008 To reflect on individuality is an almost impossible task without first comparing and relating individuality to both freedom and conformity. In this case, true freedom can be built upon our own personal individuality while restricted freedom can result from conformity under a presiding government. So which are better, true freedom and individuality or restricted freedom and conformity? In the world, there are those people who merely follow the herd, and then there are those individuals who strive to lead and be their own people. There are those who flock towards one another in desperate times and those that stand alone; strong. To follow the masses constitutes a loss of self, of knowing who you are, and trying to blend into the crowd. The latter demands respect which ultimately contributes to knowing one self. To flock and to hide enacts a sense of restricted freedom and an inability to reach individuality or humanization. Rather, these people receive a majority of oppression from governmental powers and their superiors because of their lack of confidence to withstand the injustices and inequalities of the oppressive. In order to attain our own individuality, we must break free from our oppressors and fear. Through this breaking free, we achieve active participation in our own realization. As for freedom, we are often torn between two choices of what we want and contrarily, what we don’t want. By fully conforming to what others want, we accept the latter and eliminate the primary. In this sense, we aren’t free but rather accept the multitude of evil inflicted upon us. However, true freedom brings us a series of excessive options to choose from. But really, an excessive choice of options isn’t necessarily a boldly supporting argument for individuality. Rather, as an individual learns to deal with oppression and an excessive choice of options, individuality suggests our notion to choose based on our...