People are often told that we are all individuals whose differences make us unique, but in order to all fit into the category of people we must have things in common. Some of these things are the forces that act upon us. The most obvious is religion, if one is a believer, but there are many others. They include our genes, our societies, our memories and our families. Although these differ among individuals they include many overlapping attributes. These influences also allow us to be different. For example, not even identical twins have the same memories. We are all similar in that we have certain anxieties one of which is the knowledge that we will die. It is questionable that non-human animals have that ability, but it is possible. We are also mostly linked in our ability to reason, use language, and retain information but certain young, special needs or senile individuals may not and certain non-humans may. We may be separate from non-humans in that we have civilization, but one could say the same of ants. There is also the question of whether it is part of human nature to create civilization or whether we repress ourselves in some way by doing so. We also have the ability to write and therefore maintain information across generations. This ability seems unique, but I wonder if most people would place it as central to our nature.
Is it natural to defer to a boss or teacher or does it cause people to become angry and unhappy?
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