Personal Independence Far Away

It is always easier for a group of people to declare to be independent than an individual does. Basically, the independence of a group of people means these people can govern themselves, which means they have more rights. People divide themselves into smaller groups if they can gain more benefits through it, just as the United States did. It mostly bases on a rational and economic thought. For individuals, it's totally different. What is the definition of personal independence then? To live alone and be self-sufficient like Robinson Crusoe on an isolated island? If this is the truth, then sentences at the end of the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's won't be that impressive--Paul Varjak: "You know what's wrong with you, Miss Whoever-You-Are? You're chicken, you've got no guts. You're afraid to stick out your chin and say, 'Okay, life's a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness.' You call yourself a free spirit, a wild thing, and you're terrified somebody's going to stick you in a cage. Well, baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it's not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somaliland. It's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself. " If people "belong" to each other, then how can we be so sure and proud to announce that we are independent? To be independent and self-outstanding is trendy and exactly what's on fashion. We can never find a smile on a supermodel on T-stage. Their eyes tells nothing but " I don't give it a damn." Here I'm not criticizing fashion industry alone. There is always a reason behind every fashion element. Here the reason is that after being constrained by many factors for too long time, people all over the world are seeking "independence" crazily and it is popular to stay as "cool" as a cucumber. Independence here means that one needs to be so rich to be self-sufficient and stay indifferent to those who may interrupt that status. First, people seek wealth, which doesn't need much tenderness from others. After becoming wealthy, people keep their eyes close to others because they don't need others to help them live a comfortable life any more. But material life is not the whole. In Haruki Murakami's novel Noweign Wood, main characters just committ suicide one after another without an omen. In the time when the story happens in the novel, economy booms and it's uncommon for people to give up their lives because everyone has something to be busy with--looking for chances to earn more moony. Those who commit suicide find the mainstream of view of the value of life meaningless but feel helpless to find their own way to live a satisfying life, a life with warmth and care and mental pursuit. In Haruki's novel, characters seem to be fragile because they are "sensitive in an insensitive world." They feed on love and tenderness from each other. I agree with Haruki that love and care, like bread, is a must for individual. People do belong to each other. And this is the right way to stay mental health. If independece just means that one can live well alone, it is really hard for individual to keep absolute independence. People's mind is always deep and difficult which is even impossible to calculate. So now I'm not sure weather I am an independent person, because I can't live without all my friends.