Special Us

Over the course of time we have become increasingly sentimental about our existence. From the grandeur that your wealthy family name holds to that really cute friend that you met at math camp or wherever; our lives demand to be special. Upon further inspection we’ll see that this just fallacy that has been used to make us feel good – no one is “special”, Mom might think you’re special, and maybe – though unlikely – Dad will think you’re okay – but really that’s a tiny threshold. There are billions of other people who are completely apathetic about how you’re a really good listener and your long standing high score in Galaga. I assure you that there are even more people who will look down on your Galaga score – you incorrigible hipster prick – and will think less than average of you because of it. I can also assure you that there are hundreds of cheeky, cynical people like me out there who will tell you you’re not important – you, this person that they don’t even know – they just really have nothing better to do in their shell-shocked, salt encrusted reality that they live in (which mostly comprises of circlejerking around “the real” issues on Reddit). There’s not even a lot of point to this glorified rant that I’m arrogant enough to call an essay; though stay with me here -- you’ll get it by the end. I’m going to keep talking though because I know I’m important. If you haven’t caught on, people aren’t great.

Alright let’s start this. Humanity does bring a sense of egocentrism about it; this brings out our false thought of being “special”. Now let’s be real here; you’re usually you’re looking out for #1. Incidentally that’s you. Right? This quality comes from lots of places, mainly upbringing. From a very early age we’re cherished by our parents; we become their #1. We’re held higher than men in America. We are told how great we are, and how we’ll do big things one day, and how we can change the world or be president, or convince the world to stop being so pretentious. Now you know that can’t be all the way correct right? Yeah? Screw that. If we were all equally capable of changing the world – a single person usually without millions of dollars of questionably obtained political or business earnings – the world would be mutating weekly. An overjoyed and grinning Canada could have finally got the ball in their court and taken over Eastern Europe with a regime based around kindness and free syrup. America’s main import could be goat hooves, we could all be speaking a combination of Chinese and Yiddish, we could be genetically engineering oxygen producing whales (what would those even achieve?), Japan could go to war with Switzerland. The list could go on forever. All of these things are ridiculous. Especially the Switzerland idea. Who even goes to war with Switzerland? “Those Swiss are so ornery” is something that no one has ever said ever. Does Switzerland even have an army? The point is that we can’t know how that kind of world would fly. Mostly because it simply isn’t possible. Why would you want to change everything and be known and everything? Let’s just be more complacent in being average; its okay to not be the king of the world.

Now you may think that I the writer of this paper just walked out of The Bell Jar with all of this cynicism and anger chirping around my head. I reject that. I’m clearly Mary Poppins, (just Mary Poppins with questionable processing and strong opinions). I assure you that I will be flying around with children later, singing, and dancing. This is true. Our belief is that everything has value and everything has great potential because that’s the ideal and sentimentalized way to think -- this kind of thinking is what makes us feel less alone. However this isn’t an ideal world so let’s stop pretending like it is. Though no one listens to me -- the angry writer who knows all-- people will keep their rose glasses on and jump in puddles on the sidewalk. People will continue to find an almost spiritual significance in the bug corpses on the sidewalk simply because their humanity graced them.

We’re just flying through subjects now, let’s rip apart an important cultural pillar now shall we? Many people find comfort in their religious lives -- this also brings a degree of false self-significance. We like to have things, little and big; focused on us. God is the greatest embodiment of that. Essentially a leprechaun, security camera, 24 hour IT guy who fixes your computer from India, motivational speaker, hitman, Oz, and therapist all rolled into one and tied with a magically divine piece of string; God is the end-all, be-all when it comes to self-importance. On a very Pathos driven level, those who hold their faith high are all simultaneously the most important entities in the Universe. We have to look at this closer though. All of this is faith driven, there isn’t any concrete reasoning behind it; people will feel significant where they allow themselves to and where it is relevant to them. We may not be OBJECTIVELY significant, but with our own biases thrown into the mix we are significant as all Hell. Heh see what I did there? He can write AND tell jokes? Religion takes your existence and injects it with 85 CCs of morphine. It puts you in place where no one can tell you no. Above all it’s a belief that’s held in your head and who can or would even care to challenge that? Here’s bit of advice. Life will probably be more interesting without a genie on your shoulder; a “whatever man” look at life can be pretty satisfying too, without the bells and whistles and damn entitlement. Have the self awareness, but don’t indict others for what they choose to do with that head of theirs; that’s a whole other game.


Now I’m not getting at some gushy afterschool special where some sickeningly green dragon will pop up in front of the children and talk squeakily about how “we’re all significant in our HEARTS AND THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS,” that would then be followed by the credits showcasing those who created that piece of manufactured horror. We have our circle that we interact with and we don’t care about much else. No one’s going to be known by everyone and that’s okay. It’s the insistence that our lives are novels with heroes and villains and symbolism and a surreal truth and that whole “everything happens for a reason” trash that inspires me to write a several page, questionably motivated essay on how everything is cynically pointless. Everything is pointless, so you might as well use that to live a somewhat endearing life. If its all pointless how bad can it go? Have a ball in the pointlessness. Above all stop suffering over the trifling coating of life. There’s nothing that can change our egocentrism -- there may not even be a problem in it. Its just kind of there and innate. You may feel all airy about things now but that’s not the point. I’m just saying that we should stop pedantically talking about living in insignificance and just live our small lives. Yeah? Good plan? Go throw a ball or jump off a dangerous ledge or kiss someone or embezzle money from a school or whatever they tell us to do to feel alive these days.