A Japanese proverb says, “The nail that sticks out will be hammered down.” (5) Society tries to place many rules and restrictions on us as individuals, as to what is acceptable and what is not. I believe that conformity encourages mediocrity and we must decide for ourselves whether to conform to such a social decorum. We are taught as soon as we are old enough to grasp the idea, that it is unacceptable to be unique …showed first 75 words of 1296 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1296 total…great we must take risks, one of those is to risk being misunderstood. As James Fennimore Cooper said, “All greatness of character is dependent on individuality. The man who has no other existence than that, which he partakes in common with all around him, will never have any other than an existence of mediocrity.” (4) We must decide for ourselves if conformity and mediocrity is acceptable or if we chose to be individuals and be great.