Imagine, for a moment, a world where every person was
identical, where
individual thoughts were scorned and suppressed in favor of a
collective mind that ruled over each person’s identity. Would those people, going through life in the same motions, with the same judgments, ever truly be seen as men? Of course not- rather they would be
drones, beings without
spirit or
purpose. This is an
extreme case of
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s words- “whoso would be a man must be a
nonconformist.”
To address the issue of
manhood, there is first the simple question:
what makes the man? Throughout history, there are many factors which have been seen as defining a true
person. However, the most important is
self knowledge. If a person is not true to himself, whether that self be
conventionally acceptable or not, then they are no more than a
figment, a shadow of a real person cowering behind the shield of
social conformity. Only a person who has the self confidence to drop that conformity in favor of
truth can truly be said to be in touch with their
inner self.
Looking back upon history, the men that stand singled out in our
memory are those that broke away from the
norm. We do not remember each name of each
colonist who sat back and accepted
British rule prior to the
American Revolution; we remember those who stood up and
fought, who banded together to create a new government based on
Democracy instead of
tyranny.
A man who crumples under a
strong ruler, who refuses to take a stand when faced with
oppression, loses the
backbone and
character that define a man. The same is true on a smaller scale of a person who gives in to
peer pressure, to those who push their
ideals and
style onto everyone as a means of creating a
sense of security for themselves.
Today, in an era of
peer pressure and an increased worship of a
social ideal, it is important to remember the truth behind
Emerson’s words, “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.” Without people who are willing to take their own
stance and break away from the
crowd, society would remain in a
stagnant state, with no new ideas or
inventions to produce change and
advancement in the world. Therefore it is clear that Emerson’s words remain as true today as when he first penned them, and
society would do well to
remember them.