The Shame of Exceptionalism
“I want to be the Greatest fighter ever.”
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. You know how HARD that is?
“No shit bro. I wanna be a Great fighter that doesn’t mean I’m retarded”
BUT HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN?
“Ya whatever that’s what I want!”
“I want a Private Jet.” NO NO NO NO NO YOU WANT HAPPINESS
“Ya but I’m currently happy. I don’t want to wait in line. And I’m done being treated like a nobody.” NO NO NO NO NO you aren’t a NOBODY! You are a Somebody! Money doesn’t define annnnyyyyythiiiinng.
“Ya? Walk with me into an airport security line. Walk with me to a restaurant that’s busy. Let’s go to a club in Miami and listen to some music. Let’s go somewhere that normal people like us don’t frequent.”
BUT YOU WOULDNT WANNA BE WITH THOSE MISERABLE PEOPLE ANYWAY. THEYRE ALL UNHAPPY.
“Are you sure? How do you know? I would say when I’m waiting in line being disrespected, I’m quite unhappy. If I’m with my wife and she looks at a nice handbag, and I can’t buy it for her, I’m quite sad. When I go to work and I have to ask my boss for a day off, and he says no, I feel quite lowered as a Man, that I have to ask my boss and I’m 40 for a day off.”
NO NO NO NO NO NONE OF THOSE THINGS MATTER.
“Then what does matter?”
LOVE.
“Well how did you fall in love? If you were impoverished, I’m positive nobody would even look at you. How do you treat homeless people? For one you don’t even call them people. You call them Homeless people. You’re doing exactly what I’m saying people are doing to us at a smaller level. And why are you so afraid to be exceptional? Is it because for some small reason, by downplaying exceptionalism, you are therefore downplaying mediocrity as well?”
NO NO NO NO NO *Gargle *gargle.
Perhaps all of this is caused by the fact that we all have to be ‘okay’ with where we are at to an extent. Otherwise you become quite a miserable person. It isn’t that people are afraid of exceptionalism, or downplay mediocrity, they simply become used to where they’re at. Anything else would create a sense of unease, and change would have to happen.
Of course, these concepts all exist in our own minds, and sure people have the ability to “come to terms” with where they are at. But does nature itself have certain limits? Is the body designed to ‘react’ in disagreement to the ‘status quo’?
Pain is one marker of this. Anxiety, depression, sickness, these are all ‘signals’ that the current situation just ain’t that good. We are complex, in that animals have signals of heat, pain, cold, hunger. But we are blessed in that we have a far wider array of Pains. From social anxiety, to feelings of our social standing (status), to depression if our lives have no purpose.
It is incredible the array of Signals we have to process. And evading these signals, distracting from them, despite our attempts to mull over our own sense of mediocrity and social standing, can only last so long.
Now rich folks obviously also have these same pains and aches. Everybody does. The point of this article is simply to both accept our status quo, be okay with where we are at otherwise we become miserable. But at the same time, accept that there are natural signals as well deemed by nature to be needed.
Our status quo might not be enough.