The youth of society has recently become fascinated with the word and concept “basic” . “That girl’s so basic.” “Wow, he dresses just like everyone else. Can he be any more basic?” A friend and I were texting the other night, and he was making fun of girls for being “basic.” I asked him what he felt would be basic and he started listing almost every clothing item available such as leggings, long coats, vests, athletic clothing, skinny jeans, green jackets, jean jackets, coffee, winter boots, flip flops, etc. After a while of him listing off things, I realized he had used up almost all clothing options that were available. I asked him what he would consider to not be basic. His reply was, “Cords.” Now, I’ll give him that one since there’s not many people walking around wearing cords; but then he continued to say, “but in all honesty, everything we do is considered basic since we are all the same.”
    Now, maybe it’s just me, but I refuse to believe that we’re all the same. I’d love to continue having the hope that I’m not just like everyone else. I hope that I have some unique qualities about me. But maybe he is right. Maybe we all are the same. We have the same goals, don’t we? To be successful; to be happy; to be loved.
    In biology last year, we learned that everyone in the world is made up of 99.9% of the same DNA. I remember first hearing this, and I was shocked. Seriously? How is that even possible? My DNA is what makes me unique.  Am I really that similar to everyone else? Does this mean Jennifer Aniston and I are basically the same person? No, it can’t be. I am my own individual person, and no one is exactly the same as me. Even science shows that there’s only one Hailey McLaughlin Buysse. So I’m unique, right?
Sure we all tend to act the same. We go to school or work and complain about how horrible it is, then go home, eat dinner, and finally go to bed. Yes, we might be able to squeeze time for the gym or movies in there, and all of our schedules are slightly different, but in general we all tend to follow the same daily routine as if we’re mindless drones.
How can I be truly successful if I act just like everyone else? How did people like George Washington, Thomas Edison, Mark Twain, and Martin Luther King Jr. separate themselves from the standards of their time to become such important, historical figures?  How are some people successful billionaires while others are living on the streets if we’re all the same? It’s a simple answer, we are all different, and some of us aren’t afraid to stray away from the “basic” path in order to pursue the goals in our life.
I’ve been fighting with myself as to whether or not everyone is the same. After lots of thinking, I finally came to a conclusion. Nobody is exactly the same, not physically or emotionally. But, when a person is exposed to the outside world, and is not surrounded by the comfort of their own home, that’s when they begin to change. In many cases, being basic is all about a person trying to fit in. Almost everybody could be basic; it’s the people who don’t fear stepping out of their own comfort, and stay away from the status quo, that become the greatest and most influential people in this world.