Great In A Swamp Of Greatness

 

We are all products of a society that teaches us that everyone is unique, that everyone has that one special thing that no one else has. This is damaging to humanity. if you take some time to look around, you'll notice that your ‘special’ isn’t actually much different from everyone else's, you share your ‘special’ with a percentage of humanity.

Yet society has managed to select a handful of people and deem them, unlike any other human that has ever lived. We see this in art of all forms, science and philosophy, the need to sensationalise one’s ideas as superior and beyond reach is embedded in humanity. Have we collectively failed at a conformity test?

We’ve decided that extreme talent cannot be harboured by more than a handful of individuals at a time. Why do we do this?

Is it to push us  to have the desire of  greatness above the masses?

A countless number of artists lived and died, having created remarkable work, yet went unrecognised. These artists were not part of the select group in their lifetime and yet gained legend status just with a change of generation. This must show that there is something wrong.

A great example is Vincent van Gogh, who is now celebrated tremendously for the work he did during his lifetime, yet was not given anywhere close to the same recognition when he was alive.

Vincent van Gogh self-portait

I believe the same is happening in this day and age. Millions of talented individuals exist yet only a few hundred are placed on a pedestal.

The reality is you're great in a swamp of great. we claw our way up this hideous ideal of greatness, not realising that it's already there, you might just not be able to see it, all because everyone has some form of greatness as well. Push to be a person of value and not a person chasing greatness, let greatness chase you.