What makes you an individual?
According to the Oxford dictionary, the etymology of the word individual is from the
medieval Latin individualis, meaning ‘not divisible.” While being a part of a larger society
with common goals and duties, an individual is set apart as oneself with one’s own needs,
experiences, desires, and goals. What makes a person an individual consists of both
physical and mental contents. The mental content, however, is a more defining factor of an
individual.
As every baby comes into being in the world, he or she already has the unique physical
traits different from his or her parents: eyes, noses, mouth, hands, and so on. Babies eat
and drink and sleep and grow up into adults with distinctive physical appearance that is
programmed genetically and affected by the environment in which they live. They can be
tall or short, fat or thin, straight- or wavy-haired, blue- or brown-eyed. In addition,
manners together with all the corporeal characteristics an individual possesses add up to
the unique physical individuality. She walks straight and gracefully. He speaks warmly and
gently. Physical features and manners make an individual recognized even from afar.
That’s why even though being distorted or exaggerated, characters in caricature can be
recognized easily.
Next, needs, desires, and goals amount to an individual. Each person in a society has one’s
own needs, from basic survival needs to social needs. People have the needs to live their
own ways as long as their lifestyles do not disturb the harmony and peace of society. A
mother needs money to feed her children. A student needs to be recognized for his or her
effort and talents. A teenager needs to be loved and wanted. Needs drive people to do what
they need to do to satisfy their needs. Each individual has to get one’s need satisfied
oneself as one cannot have their needs satisfied by others. If a person feels hungry, others
cannot eat for that one, but it is the person who has to eat. “All the functions of body and
spirit are private. They cannot be shared or transferred,” writes Ayn Rand (Objectivism).
Similarly, desires and goals are distinct for various individuals.
What sets human being apart from all other species on Earth and other individuals in a
society is the mental state. As a proponent of Tabula rasa by John Locke, which means
“blank slate” in Latin, I believe a person grows more into individual as one observes,
