When everyone is super, no one is...
“Everyone, literally. Every child is told how unique and special and talented and beautiful they are by their parents, their teachers, their school counsellors, literally by everyone else in the society. And that, they are born that way. That they are beautiful and special just by being themselves, meaning they don’t have to make any effort or achieve anything to be special. They just are.
The thing is, the word special itself means being better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual. But, what is usual in our society? Who is usual in our world today? Apparently nobody is. Any more. We are living in the world where everyone wants their stories to be shared, their dreams to be realized, their voices to be heard, their efforts to be recognized, their pains to be felt and their struggles to be known.
We are living in a very noisy world where the louder you are, the more attention and recognition you get. In this world of technology and mass sharing, if you don’t raise your voice, you are invisible. You are zero no matter how beautiful and intelligent and wise you are.
This is the world where people have been programmed to get satisfaction from being approved by others, from being told by others that they are special. But it has become an increasingly challenging thing when everyone seems to be so special. It is difficult, impossible even, to keep seeking approval and recognition from outside. Instead, I think it’s high time for parents to teach their kids to look and search within for joy and satisfaction. Otherwise, they’ll just be setting their little ones up for disappointment, frustration, self-loathing and disorientation in their lifelong journey."