Individualism vs. Community, A timed essay by Peter Kamin

A balance between being an individual and being part of a community is a hard thing to decide, and a balance must be found, However the decision of weather or not community or individualism is the right choice, should be made on an individual basis, and by that person.

I believe that it not better to be an individual, and that being in a society is also not better. I believe that it is best to let the individual decide and do what they wish, or need to do, and that avoiding the creation, or participation in any community is a horrible idea. However, it can not be argued that joining in a society does not come with down sides.

Communities are groups of people gathered for a reason, often this reason is a goal, and many goals require more than one person to accomplish. For instance, in Throeau's "Walden" he uses a steel axe to chop dow trees for his house. Without a community to mine the iron, and a blacksmith to turn it into steel then make it into an axe, then he could not have used the axe. However, the cost of the community is freedom, the miner can't just leave, the blacksmith can't stop working. Because the community needs them to do their jobs, with out them other tasks could not be completed, like the farmer could not plow his fields, because there would be no blacksmith to repair his plow. The rewards from having a community are worth the cost though. The blacksmith can get bread from the baker, and the miner can get his clothes from the tailor. Commerce is the reward for being included in a society.

Communities can take freedoms, and the ability to be absolutely what ever you want is one of them. But being an individual does take more time and energy to even survive, much less to take time to do what you want to do, many survivalists and studies have shown that in a survival situation you are far more likely to survive if you work in a group, in where there are allocated tasks, such as foraging/hunting for food, collecting fuel for, and tending to the fire. building shelter. ect... Rather than trying to do all those tasks on your own. However, who are we to decide if another wishes to maintain their complete individuality by not joining a community, and instead decides that it would be better to live on their own? Isn't making the decision for them taking even more freedom away from them than joining a community?

In conclusion, I believe that it is not our decision on weather Community, or Individualism is better for someone, but a decision to be made by the person themselves.