Thoreau's nonconformity: Hearing a different drummer

Henry David Thoreau talks about individuality through his quote: "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."  This quote states that if an individual does not go with the trend, or the norm of whatever it is that others are doing, then it means that said individual is simply going forth to do what pleases him/her.  This is the act of individuality, or nonconformity.  Like the nonconformist example that Thoreau mentions, I have heard a "different drummer" all my life.  I don't dress the same as everyone else, I don't talk like everyone else, and I can guarantee that no one else can think the same way that I do.  I don't play sports like the jocks, instead I practice martial arts, swordsmanship, and parkour.  I don't watch tv, I go on my laptop and watch animes from Japan.  Some kids don't like school, I view it as a challenge that should be accomplished.  In conclusion, I believe that I hear a very different "drummer" than the rhythm to which everyone else marches.  

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 Thoreau writes in "Walden", "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."  This quote from the author shows the tenet of simple living without materialistic possessions through Thoreau's wishes to come face to face with the bare facts of life, and learn what these facts had to teach him, and discover if he had lived or not.  

Thoreau believes that living simply with only the bare necessities is the way to truly live.  I do not fully believe in that, although my belief is that nature has much to teach.  Humans have the right to live how they wish, whether that way of life neglects their needs of others and themselves, or whether they take in full account the needs of others and their own requirements to grow.  My belief is that an individual will do what is necessary to grow, or will commit lack thereof.