Pride And Conformity

Alarm. An unwanted sound that blares in your ears every morning. Unwanted, but prevails. Stress. An unwanted mental strain that longs to consume us steadily. Unwanted, but dominating. Loneliness. An unwanted feeling that leaves us with pure emptiness. Unwanted, but lingers. Unwanted. These unsolicited emotions and experiences conquer the one system that all human alike desire most. Time. Life is a constant battle against time. However, in a day we have 24 hours, 1440 minutes, and 86400 seconds. If so, why do humans have a propensity to complain about having absolutely no time? The answer is pride and conformation. Humans tend to take pride in being busy, for they assume the word busy conveys greater importance and a representation of higher

And all for one reason. A place in society. As more people conform towards this misleading, “idealistic” path, this concept and embracement of busyness becomes a deciding factor, or qualification, in determining one’s position in society. As a result of this popularity of busyness, an instilling fear begins to develop as well. The fear of divergence and isolation. Likewise, in the news magazine, “Bumping into Mr. Ravioli,” the author, Adams Gopnik, presents and warns the readers about the effects of the busy life of society and the fear of these obligations. He begins with an anecdote, describing his daughter’s loneliness and her imaginary friend, Charlie Ravioli, and progresses his way towards presenting the loneliness of his society at large and in implying that his society is, in fact, made of many Mr. Raviolis, under the influence manipulation and conformation. In informing and cautioning the readers about the dangers threaded together in a desperation for wealth, status, and belonging, Gopnik effectively utilizes thought-provoking diction, informative and persuasive language, and a varied use of

Though this mental and emotional clash is threatening and brings into question the morale of busyness, people are still not able to overcome their addiction to busyness. Their tendency to be the puppets on society’s string has led them to follow the pursuit of busyness, rather than happiness. As Gopnik discussed in his article, the busyness is so compelling that the people who have been influenced way beyond the maximum point, have lost their ability to sit down and breathe. They have lost their ability to think about their choices and the consequences of them. They are not only building a wall around themselves because they are busy, but also because they have lost any emotional and personal connection with the world. They thrive off of their daily schedule that contains the same three activities: bump, hop, and