Family and Individuality Create a Personality

Traditions identify cultural identity of every nation becoming the constituents of its personalities. Thanksgiving Day is one of the most loved holidays in the United States since it is a holiday of the family warmth and coziness. In the essay Thanksgiving Ellen Goodman points out that though the ideals of individuality and family are contradictory, they are principal for every American. The fact that people celebrate this holiday so sincerely speaks more than any words. It is the only place, where every person can feel that others need love and take care of him or her. The holiday will be over, and everyone will return to his or her individual places but this link will give them strength and power to overcome all difficulties and go further. However, individualism is in the blood of every American, and its importance was always supreme for the national community. Thus, the establishment of people as individuals needs a strong background, and the family gives it. Although, Americans highly appreciate their freedom and personal individuality, they respect family values since they make the basis for their success and self-determination.

Nevertheless, family is a unique entity that gives people multiple benefits never asking for anything in turn. It accepts its members not by their achievements but only on behalf of the fact they exist (Bachmann and Barth, 2011). All other people in this world stay with us since it brings them some benefits, whereas the family appreciates its members as they are. Hence, the family environment can make a person happy as people can remain themselves there. The freedom may lose its taste when a person feels that nobody needs him or her, when he or she does not have a family. The adults who grew up in the orphanage are the vivid examples of this idea. Some of them can achieve much in this life, but they would suffer of the absence of a native family during their whole lives. The reason is that family gives confidence and support that affirms person’s individuality. When people know that their families love them and care about them they feel more confident, even though they are far from each other and rarely meet. People often search for emotional support and encouragement from their family members as they are the only people who will help, not compete. This emotional unit works for the sake of its representatives allowing the weakest to survive (Bachmann and Barth, 2011). Thus, the family will never abandon its members, if they believe it, rely on it, and protect it from external harm.

Essentially, the individualism is the most influential and valued notion in the American society. For the majority of people, it is a symbol of freedom and its significance cannot be underestimated. The modern world rewards ego as “the supreme importance of the individual” (Bachmann and Barth, 2011). It is a space, where a stronger person competes with the weaker one, and where nobody will pay any attention unless the person is fit enough. The world’s rules give benefits only to those who can fight for them and prove that he or she deserves them. When people become adults, almost all their deeds are on their behalf. They choose with whom to communicate, where to go, and how to behave. People struggle between their good and evil intentions, make mistakes and achieve success. They come into this world and leave it alone, and the first person who can help in this or that situation is an individual itself. Hence, every person living in a community and having a family needs to have a personal space, where he or she is an individual and where nobody will interrupt. For instance, one friend of mine remained with her parents because she was the only child, and they loved her so much that insisted on staying and living with them. However, she could not define herself as an individuality being daily dependent on her parents. She became an adult, got a job and later a husband who came to live in their house. And finally, she felt depressed as due to that she did not develop her identity and remained a big child. Therefore, a family as a basis for individual development and “the great American notion of individualism” (Bachmann and Barth, 2011) defining national identity are integral constituents of every person’s self. Thus, people should never mix individualism with family relations, or otherwise it will hurt making them unhappy and not developed as society members.

Therefore, the eternal contradiction between ‘I’ and ‘we’ finds its representation in being an individual and a family member. Hence, the truth of every person’s live is that parents raise children to let them become individuals (Bachmann and Barth, 2011). Almost all people grow in families before they become individuals and on this special Thanksgiving Day they recognize their belonging to their families. However, even the strongest knit family consists of individuals with different tastes, views, and preferences, and it does not harm their togetherness. That is why on that holiday people living in different parts of the country come to meet each other and share their common ‘we’. Essentially, those children whose parents care of them and are interested in their lives are stronger and more successful in their lives. They tend to create their families based on mutual love and understanding. They tend to be good at their studies and have essential achievements in the career. Being the adults they are completely individual and do not depend on their families, but still it remains the solid background that holds the whole building of every person’s identity. Thus, despite the contradiction between the family and individuality, these two notions serve one common aim, which is upbringing of an adult as an honorable member of society.

While individuality and family seem to be the opposite entities, in fact, they supplement each other balancing the live of every person. In addition, Thanksgiving Day brightly shows that family is a symbiosis of individuals who have common roots and background. Moreover, this basis appears to be the most influential issue that affects people’s personal development and creates their individuality. However, people gathering together on this wonderful holiday live apart from each other, have different lives and values, but still they remain parts of the family that identifies their individuality. Personal ego must adhere to it since balance between these two notions makes people happy. Family always protects its members and equally loves everyone without waiting for anything in return. However, in contrast, being an individual is a reward, since it gives a person a freedom – the treasure that is able to change the world. Americans highly appreciate it, and every single citizen is ready to defend his or her individuality more than in any other country. As every person is different, on Thanksgiving Day the members come together since the family consists of individuals who assemble it. These meetings are utterly warm and bring people love and pleasure that they miss in their self-centered lives. Consequently, people should always remember about their families as far as those who forget their roots have no future.