Originality

In class last week, we talked about the idea of being original at something, whether its a thought or idea, or even an action.  I've been stuck on that thought for a couple of days.

If being original means going back to the origin of a certain thing, then does that mean that there is nothing original about anyone on the planet because all of the thought and ideas that we have, have probably been thought of by other people through out history?  I understand where that definition comes from, but I don't know that I believe it...  if you look at anyone on the planet, we're different from everyone else, even if its just because of how we interpret a thought or idea, so doesn't that make us original in every way possible?  I love thinking that we're all original in who we are.  Just imagine if there was no such thing as originality.  It would be like living in a society like Ayn Rand's Anthem.  In that world, life was set up for everyone, no one really had a choice, except for the people that ran away from society.  Life would be so depressing if we were all stuck in that kind of society, where the expectation was to follow the norm, not think for yourself, not do anything different.  In all reality, people were stunted by not being able to be original.

I think that we're all a sum of our thoughts and actions... which means that, in some way, we're all original.  So even if we think about the same things as everyone else, the way that those ideas shape us is what really mattters.