Nov 29 2008
Mediocrity
In school, we’re required to read stories about extraordinary people; people who overcome, people who succeed, people who are intelligent. Why? To teach us to be bigger and better; to be more than the world would normall expect out of someone like us. Hopefully, these stories teach us to be bright as the stars, and to reach as high as the sun gets at noon. Even the darker ones like 1984 and Brave New World are read to us in attempts to teach us to not just willingly accept everything we’re told, and to fight and challenge and find truth and meaning in all we do. But yet, so many people do the very opposite.
Most people walk through life, happy in their oblivion, and strive to be nothing more than like everyone else. And if someone dares to try and break away, the population will do their best to tear them apart and ‘we;lcome them home’ when they ‘come back to their senses and do what the rest are doing’. Why? Because the masses know best. I’s a good thing if everyone else does it, so you should follow. Don’t lead. You’re a sinner; hypocrite; heretic. You cant go against the grain, for it is wrong.
And yet, the people we admire most–religious leaders, kings and other rulers, poets, writers, musicians, artists–were the very ones who went against the grain and established something new.
There’s a boy, a wonderful, intelligent, talented boy, who loves to paint and draw. He’s a good boy with a good heart and a good mind. Unconventional, yes. Very unconventional, but that’s his charm. But for as long as he can remember, he’s been pushed aside for being the way he is. Granted, not everyone will always understand how he is, and that’s ok. Of course we don’t always udnerstand each other, but far beyond not understanding, no one tries to let him be who he is. So when that boy is all grown up, ad pursuing what he loves, he’s not happy even then because he’s always been a square forced into a circle. He only ever achieved half of his potential, and he knows it. That frustrates him. Then to see someone else who’s close to him glorified for being normal, and knowing in the back of everyone’s minds, they’re thinking, “God he’s such a screw up.”
In reality, he’s no better nor any worse than the person who’s being glorified. In fact, as long as both are happy, where’s the issue? The issue lies in what everyone has said to the boy. The boy will never amount to anything because he’s not medicore. Turning out like everyone else, and having money, material things, and a ‘good name’ are far more desirable than being poor, and happy, and being the person youwant to be. Why? Because everyone else says so.
Who cares what everyone else says? It’s that lovely myspace cliche: those who matter dont mind, and those who mind don’t matter. So why does everyone try to strive and placate the opinions of people who will never amount to anything in their lives, or your own? Why do people spend so much time worrying about that kind of acceptance, when in the end all they’ll be is sad and frustrated that they missedout on being their own person.
To me, it’s so much better to be hated for being someone you are rather than loved and superficially accepted for being someone you’re not. I’ve never been able to understand why people want to waste so much time to strive and be nothing than to ignore what everyone says and be who they want. It’s my life, not theirs, and in the end, the only person that matters is me. I have to answer for and look back on what I did…as do we all. It’s not up to the shallow opinions of others. In fact, for me, it’s almost a fear; a fear of being anything other than myself and being able to achieve whatever it is that I want in life. Maybe it’s too far to the other end of the spectrum, but I’d much rather be afraid of not living to my full potential than to being afraid of what people think and saying and trying to fit in all the time.
