Headlights

What we want is to be an individual. And we go through great pains to attain that individuality.

Like when it's dusk and the sun is setting, and you're stuck in the peak hour traffic.

Several cars around you have already turned their headlights on. But you refuse to follow suit. You wait awhile until YOU think it's dark enough, instead of relying upon what other people think "REALLY DARK" is.

I mean what does that say to you about yourself, if you just turn your headlights on when other people do it?

They would call you a sheep, that's what. An obeisance, meek, follower of trends.

But what if it gets really dark? Who cares about individuality?

I'm going to have to turn on my headlights anyway. I don't wanna die because I crave the feeling of being special.

But no, you love that feeling. Okay, let's reach a middle ground. Turn the lights on, but slightly later or earlier.

You can't turn them on too early though, they'll think you're a nutter with the headlights on at 4 pm.

If too late, then you'd be driving blind, unable to see anything.

God, but this is a terribly important decision.

Never mind that 80% of the songs you listen to are listened to by millions of others around the world, the value of which is corroborated by charts and album sales.

Never mind that you delete jokes that don't get enough 'thumbs up's on your social profile.

Or that entertainment television has inevitably monopolized your conception of aesthetics, telling you what's in and what's out, while you tell yourself you don't really believe in them, but at the same time you feel embarrassed when other people don't conform to these standards.

All of those things don't matter.

What matters is that when you turn on your car headlights, it's because YOU want to. Not because other people are doing it too.