Many young people of today have
certainly heard the old saying "everyone is special" by now.
Seems reasonable, right? After
all, every human is unique. No two of us are exactly alike.
The problem arrives in this
all-too-familiar concept: self-esteem.
Apparently, far too many people,
especially as we go down the age groups, seem to interpret being special not as
"I have unique traits, and I should make use of them in the best way
possible" like they should, but instead as "I can do no wrong, it's
all about me, anyone who dares think otherwise either keep their mouth shut or
face the consequences of not worshipping me."
Talk about blowback.
This behavior would explain a lot
of things. It brings out a whole new nasty angle to the already savage,
vicious, cutthroat competitive atmosphere and system that, while seemingly
cooling down during America's golden years (circa 1950's-1960's), was very much
always present.
It also would explain at least in
part why so many people today, especially those who have made the severe
mistake of taking certain ideologies and institutions as their own personal
identity, would rather jump off a cliff than admit they are wrong.
One jungle I cannot wrap my head
around is what "special" even means. Does it refer to extraordinarily
moral people? Extremely intelligent people? People who can hit throw baseballs
faster than average? People who make much more money than most people?
Just what the hell does that damn
word mean?!!!
Whenever I hear even a cursory
mention of the word in regards to people, I think of a scene from Disney's The
Incredibles. Dash, the son of the main superhero family, is feeling down. His
mother, Helen, tries to comfort him by reminding him that everyone is special.
Dash then grumbles that the saying "everyone is special" is really
just a way of saying nobody is special.
I can't help but scratch my head
at that. Certainly we want to recognize people for their achievements, but do
we really want a society for some people are, in some way or another, regarded
as more valuable than others? No matter what we come up with, won't that just
be another way of inviting prejudice, the same type that results from people
having more money and material goods than others, or more power, or more of
anything?
Maybe I'm looking at this from a
bad angle and missing something big.
But to me, I think we should just
drop the whole "special" thing.
Giving any type of fuel to the
destructive fire that is egotism or division between humans cannot do anything
but more harm.
Egotism is one of the main
reasons why powerful reform movements cannot take hold and why good ideas
constantly fail to make as large an impact as they should. We see this
constantly throughout distant history, recent history, and the past. This
problem must be addressed, because we really are at a time where we either
change or we die.
If we are going to get anywhere,
we human beings must realize that our world is not about any one person or
group. It's about humanity, the earth, and the entire universe. No matter what
we may boast about or want to boast about, we are all tiny pebbles at the
bottom of a vast ocean.
No single person is the
protagonist; all of humanity is.
