Business Insight presented by Arlington Dermatology Alone or together? Individualism has been a very popular philosophy and a point of view in our contemporary life. It extends to many fields and areas of life, from schooling to raising babies, from teenagers' mentality to work environment. It started years ago, in the 19th century, and continues to build until the current times. It simply proclaims that each person is its own self-sufficient individual and should be able to solve problems and accomplish goals without assistance of others. It stresses a person's focus on individual needs, identity, and autonomy. It encourages people to create their own lifestyle, norms, self-expression rather than following any prior examples that would follow family or community values. One of the very popular examples of practical application of individualism in our lives was Dr. Spock's baby book. Published in 1946, it changed generations to come with the styles of baby's upbringing methods and tools. "Don't be afraid to trust your own common sense"- was the main message delivered by the book and the doctor behind And sure enough, some of us like driving fast it. While the message and the book had a lot of positive impacts on how children were growing and learning, it also had a lot of communities and societies to create downsides. come up with very similar conclusions. If we do not follow speed limits or no smoking rules, we may very well end up hurting others. and many still smoke. Rules and laws are developed for common environment and orderly behavior in situations that involve others. So, if you are and stay in the four walls of your own home, Individualism as a philosophy of life similarly has a lot of positive and common you can smoke as much as you wish, but if sense-based factors as well as many negatives, especially when applied to a larger group like a community or society. Certainly, it makes sense to create one's own mini-world, mini-environment and allow the norms to be forgotten. It is like with parents who allow their children to draw pictures on the wall of a room without being punished. Some parents do. They treat it as a natural need for self-expression of a child. They feed their children when they feel hungry and majority of us do not live alone. We are a part want to eat. If they do not feel like they want to eat, they do not. Most parents do not apply this method to their daily life. Not that they do not like their children to be independent and self-sufficient, but they prefer establishing some norms to follow, especially if they raise multiple children. Allowing each of them to be entirely individual may mean chaos and disorder at home. If you take this philosophy to a larger scale and apply it to a community or society, you your home is an apartment in a building with many others, then you must follow the smoking rules of that small community. The examples lusedare a verysimplification of complexity of our contemporary life. One could make an argument that rules and regulations kill creativity and self-expression. Sometimes they might. And we have to be careful when creating them. However, of communities and societies. We are a part of countries. And finally, we are all equally a part of the planet. So, whether we look at our micro- or macro-systems, we deal with others daily. Our individual self-expression should not stay in conflict with those around us, it should not hurt them, physically or mentally. We must find a good balance in order to live well but also allow others to live well. Michael Bukhalo, MD Arlington Dermatology 5301 Keystone Court Rolling Meadows, IL 60008 Tel. 847 392 5440 | www.arlingtondermatology.net Business Insight presented by Arlington Dermatology Alone or together? Individualism has been a very popular philosophy and a point of view in our contemporary life. It extends to many fields and areas of life, from schooling to raising babies, from teenagers' mentality to work environment. It started years ago, in the 19th century, and continues to build until the current times. It simply proclaims that each person is its own self-sufficient individual and should be able to solve problems and accomplish goals without assistance of others. It stresses a person's focus on individual needs, identity, and autonomy. It encourages people to create their own lifestyle, norms, self-expression rather than following any prior examples that would follow family or community values. One of the very popular examples of practical application of individualism in our lives was Dr. Spock's baby book. Published in 1946, it changed generations to come with the styles of baby's upbringing methods and tools. "Don't be afraid to trust your own common sense"- was the main message delivered by the book and the doctor behind And sure enough, some of us like driving fast it. While the message and the book had a lot of positive impacts on how children were growing and learning, it also had a lot of communities and societies to create downsides. come up with very similar conclusions. If we do not follow speed limits or no smoking rules, we may very well end up hurting others. and many still smoke. Rules and laws are developed for common environment and orderly behavior in situations that involve others. So, if you are and stay in the four walls of your own home, Individualism as a philosophy of life similarly has a lot of positive and common you can smoke as much as you wish, but if sense-based factors as well as many negatives, especially when applied to a larger group like a community or society. Certainly, it makes sense to create one's own mini-world, mini-environment and allow the norms to be forgotten. It is like with parents who allow their children to draw pictures on the wall of a room without being punished. Some parents do. They treat it as a natural need for self-expression of a child. They feed their children when they feel hungry and majority of us do not live alone. We are a part want to eat. If they do not feel like they want to eat, they do not. Most parents do not apply this method to their daily life. Not that they do not like their children to be independent and self-sufficient, but they prefer establishing some norms to follow, especially if they raise multiple children. Allowing each of them to be entirely individual may mean chaos and disorder at home. If you take this philosophy to a larger scale and apply it to a community or society, you your home is an apartment in a building with many others, then you must follow the smoking rules of that small community. The examples lusedare a verysimplification of complexity of our contemporary life. One could make an argument that rules and regulations kill creativity and self-expression. Sometimes they might. And we have to be careful when creating them. However, of communities and societies. We are a part of countries. And finally, we are all equally a part of the planet. So, whether we look at our micro- or macro-systems, we deal with others daily. Our individual self-expression should not stay in conflict with those around us, it should not hurt them, physically or mentally. We must find a good balance in order to live well but also allow others to live well. Michael Bukhalo, MD Arlington Dermatology 5301 Keystone Court Rolling Meadows, IL 60008 Tel. 847 392 5440 | www.arlingtondermatology.net