Carpe Diem

             It's all the same, but no matter how often these words are spoken to us, in today's society it's almost impossible to live out. In our world, we"re told to live a certain way constantly. And how if we don't live that way we are no longer socially acceptable and should be frowned upon. If we don't dress the way a magazine says is the new trend, we are frowned upon. If we don't walk the way we"re supposed to walk, if we don't read what we"re supposed to read, if we don't listen to the things we"re suppose to listen to; we"re frowned upon. But to Neal Perry, in the movie The Dead Poets Society, that didn't matter. It's didn't matter to him what his father thought; he knew what he wanted and was finally going to do something about it. The only difference is that he let the pressure inside of him build up to a point of no return. Instead of standing up for what he knew was right, he let life get the best of him and gave in. But in doing so, he left a message to be heard by all of his friends and classmates. That even though his life wasn't perfect and he ended up ending it in his own way, he still died happy. He had achieved something most people in life never will because they settle and accept things all too much. He got his 15 minutes of fame.
             Another story that involves such a theme is Anthem by Ayn Rand. In this book, a man by the name of Equality 7-2521 dealt with some of the same issues. Except he lived during a time where individualism was a word not known to anyone. A time where collectivism was a way of life and that's all there is to it, no questions asked. But Equality knew that there had to be something else out there. So he searched and searched for something, just something that would prove his theory that there was more to life than just sleeping, eating, and reproducing. And in doing this, he risked his life and everything that he ever knew to be normal. But, ultimately, he found happiness.