A Poverty of Intellect

Life is a challenge; from the moment you are born to the moment you exit this incarnation of self, existence is a test. There is never a moment in life where you can't be tricked, fooled, or hoodwinked. Perhaps this is because, as human beings, we want to believe in the apparent beauty of truth as we perceive it. We do not naturally expect or seek out the complexity of time, environment, or space. We prefer to let tomorrow unfold as it may and trust in "nature's plan".

But this precarious strategy is fully dependent on the assumption your fate is included in natures plan.

Yet those who do not flow with nature but choose to be "better" are as likely to swing the pendulum of self to far in the other extreme. The moderate landscape of personal betterment is not a well populated place.

An Inconvenient Truth

We spend massive amounts of time and energy attempting to separate ourselves from the crowd. Crafting and honing a personal identity is a pervasive preoccupation of contemporary life. But it's a narcissistic whitewash atop an unpleasant reality; a reality made whole by an ever increasing world population: There are countless thousands of people similar to each of us. How do we individually stand-out from the masses?

Better Than You

Its a common refrain: I need to look, sound, work, smile, speak better than you. I need to demonstrate that I'm a better catch than you, a better "sparkier" asset than you, and its a competition I need to win over you.

But it's not.

There is no way I can be better than you or you better than me. There will always be greater and lessor gifted souls than yourself. Despite the "seething masses" and the propensity to lose sight of the individuals within them, you are still unique. Build upon your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses.

Poverty of Intellect

Its a frightening prospect that so many people can be motivated by "one upsmanship" but can't be bothered to better their own personal best. In this writers estimation, the quintessential contest in life is waged between what you are and what you can be. Only a poverty of intellect would suggest that a better you is founded upon the notion that you look, sound, act, or present better than person X.

We Are the World

Trite though it may sound, we are each a member of this world community. To make it better is to make ourselves better individuals. Through self improvement is found the value that others erroneously believe is found in one-upsmanship. I couldn't possibly be "better" than you. But I do look forward to everything each of us will become.