We are unique individuals by birthright and yet we spend most of our time trying to be identical (everyone in this season's colour, watching the same TV shows and movies, and more alarmingly, thinking the same way) - perhaps because we fear rejection by our peers and the threat of being truly alone in the world.

But the unique adds to the sum total of the world. The 'different' doesn't have to amount to pretentious elitism - it's all a question of our viewpoint being informed by previous exposure. Once we give the 'different' (that which is borne of experimentation and a desire to veer from...