On individualism

As an American, I have been brought up with the notion that Individualism is best even though collectivism works well too. We should strive to do our best, to be self motivated, yadda yadda yadda. I loved Emerson's view point of Self Reliance.

There’s a river flowin’ in my soul and it’s telling me that I’m somebody. Trust thyself. Don’t look to others...look to oneself. You can pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.

In college, this helped me get through so many trials of paper writing.

And indeed, it is quite something to be motivated enough by one's own self.

I do see the value in collectivism. But of course, being the American, I looked at it, patted it on it's head and said, "Oh, that's nice dear."

There is a Japane proverb that states, "The nail that sticks up gets hammered down."

And I always found fault with this. As if this brand of thinking was imploring us to be the same, no matter your beliefs. No matter who you are. You are not yourself. You are your family. You are your culture. You are your people. There is no you. There is only we.

Obviously, you can imagine how this bothered me. But I didn't get it. I still could not see.

Then I started reading a different Lois Lowry book, "Number the Stars" where one of the Jewish characters in the story is telling her friend's daughter (a Danish girl) to take a different route to avoid being seen by the same German soldiers that were occupying Copenhagen:

"They will remember your faces," Mrs. Rosen said, turning in the doorway to the hall. "It is important to be one of the crowd, always. Be one of many. Be sure that they never have reason to remember your face."

And then I got it. When you are in a country that is being occupied, you have to remain faceless. It is safer. Korea is no stranger to being occupied. I get it now. And America has never been occupied. But we have been occupiers. That is for certain.

This is not to say that individualism is wrong for any reason, but collectivism isn't wrong either. But it's just funny how things are made to be "wrong" when they are not a value within your own culture.

More on this later.

xox,

c