Uniformity and Unity
Uniformity, in a social setting, is often regarded as undesirable, limited, and even detrimental. Contrarily, unity is often regarded as desirable, progressive, and even beneficial to society. However, these statements are only true to a certain extent. To answer the question, “To what extent should we be ourselves or conform?”, we must first address the misconception of the relationship between uniformity and unity. A prime example, in my opinion, of this misconception is the statement, Unity comes from diversity. Uniformity is conformity.” Although the statement itself isn’t inherently false, I believe it disregards a critical aspect of the relationship between unity and conformity.
The statement “ Uniformity is conformity.” states that uniformity is conformity or at least a form of conformity. In other words, a complete loss of individuality. From this statement, we can infer that uniformity is harmful because it entails the loss of individuality. However, I believe that uniformity is a necessity. We infer that uniformity is harmful because it is an idea, and ideas/theories tend to reside in extremes. In reality, uniformity is an idea that rallies people together and creates bonds. Take a soccer/football team, they play under one banner yet retain their individuality. When the players play under a single banner, it is a celebration of unity in uniformity. Uniformity is comradery, complete uniformity is conformity.
Unity and uniformity are not opposites, rather the two ideas complement each other- in moderation. We can see the effects of uniformity without unity from diversity in the protests in Hong Kong. When a group forms with like-minded members and a closed mindset, the group effectively creates a bubble in which only a select few ideas are accepted, leading to conformity within the group. Just as too much water can be harmful to our physical bodies, blind subservience to an idea, group, or movement can lead to undesirable outcomes. Yet, just as humans require food,water, and shelter to survive; A certain level of conformity is a necessity for humanity to thrive.
Reflection
To me this writing prompt was not the most exciting to write about, but it was quite interesting. Most writing prompts tell you to adopt a certain perspective, but this writing prompt allowed me to take someone else’s perspective and adapt it. I thoroughly enjoyed being able develop and express my own opinion through someone’s idea. Moreover, I believe that this experience helped me develop as writer by making me a more flexible writer.
