What does it mean to be original?

Does it mean that you dress 'unique'? That you speak differently? That you look different? That you have 'lived through things others have no concept of '?
Today, as I was walking down the main 'street' of the shopping centre, I saw a group of 'emo' kids that to me, looked like they had read a how-to book on how to dress 'unique'. They all had skinny skinny jeans on, tight black band shirts, short-ish black hair, complete with side bangs that covered one eye and chucks. Now, I can't exactly judge people by how they look because that is one of the many things that I despise in a person, but when talking to an 'emo' friend of mine, I asked him 'why do 'emo' kids wear the clothes and make-up that they do?', When he replied 'To be unique', I finally got my anwser. All of the sub-cultures around now-days have one thing in common: they all want to be different. The contradicting thing about this common practice is the fact that in order to be different, you need to find something in yourself or others that no-one else has. Whether it be a different sense of humor or some other aspect in your personality, you can then call yourself unique.
The thing that gets me is that everyone claims that they are oringinal, even when they get their fashion ideas straight out of a magazine, when they dye their hair just how they saw Nicol Richie dye her hair or even when they write their 'about me' on myspace, based on the lyrics to a song they never even wrote, or they saw it on someone else's myspace page.
Now, I definately don't claim to be entirely original, I mean, I do buy my clothes from popular shops and trawl through fashion magazines, looking for the 'perfect' pair of shoes. But the one thing that I do claim, is that I am myself.
Whether it be that I laugh with my eyes closed or write blogs that I know not a single person is going to read: I still persevere in the hope that one day, I can change someone's life. Or at least, attempt to.

xo, Tea.