08.04.24
One thing I’ve come up against in adulthood is the realization of how stupidly I spent ALL that time in elementary, middle, high, and undergrad school constantly looking for stupid reasons to put myself a stupid step above others and for stupid reasons to stupidly single out some of those others and put them a stupid step above the other others and be all stupid-giddy inside when those stupid-special people liked me or affirmed me—only to suddenly and finally be slammed with the in-your-face fact of reality that was always there and yet so easily dismissed all that stupid time: the fact that
NO ONE IS BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE. No one.
Not in that inherent-dignity-and-personhood kind of way that matters at the deep-down core and essence of all of us—the deep-down meaningful part of us that makes anything in this slamming and shockingly ordinary reality that we experience actually worth the while that any of us are here for. And not only worth the while but momentous, shared, and sometimes magical.
SO.
In case it wasn’t clear already:
1) It doesn’t matter how much more attractive the impression of the glittery hotshot person A in the front might seem to be over and above that of the hunched-over, stale, and overweight person B in the corner. It’s a facade! Both individuals warrant my equal thought, wonder, and care. We’re all just the same kind of human here—hotshots, hunched, and all.
2) It’s plain evil of me (stupid!) to feel smug about looking better than someone else does, doing something better than someone else can, or being better about something than someone else is. And it’s good of me to instead appreciate the kaleidoscopic dignity of each and every person around me and to be grateful for the gift and simultaneous mystery that is our participation in life at all.
