I freaking hate the "Be Someone" tag. I find it the opposite of inspirational. It basically means "get famous, stand out, achieve something extraordinary" or you're a "nobody." Everyone is someone. Not just literally. The quietest life might also be the happiest or most beautiful. The command to aspiration icks me out. It reminds me of something I read in the excellent book "Lincoln's Melancholy," which mostly covers Lincoln's early years. His was the first generation to break free from the family farm or family profession; it was the first in which it became common for people to aspire to be something beyond what their fathers had been. Lincoln himself went through bouts of suicidal depression over his failure to achieve great things early in life. So much so that he had a live in doctor for months after a heartbreak and he had friends hold his knife for him when he walked in the woods for fear of harming himself. This was one of my favorite bits of the book: In the same year that the term "self-made man" was coined, the number of patients at what passed for mental hospitals virtually doubled. And of course it did. Because suddenly everyone was being told to be special and stand out and in order for anyone to stand out a whole lot of other people have to fail at standing out. Most of them failed. In those days, aspiration was not just considered a good thing; achieving more than one's father had quickly became a moral imperative and editorials filled the front pages of newspapers indicating that if one was without ambition he was weak and most likely immoral. That part of the book is wild to me because the script flipped on this in a handful of years. But guess what? Not everybody grows up to "BE SOMEONE." And that should be okay. That should be more than okay. Working in the arts as I do, with people of all ages, and having been a student of theatre since I was a small boy, I know that not everyone "makes it." In fact less than 1% of those whose hopes and dreams depend entirely on "making it" do in fact "make it." And how do you think the vast majority of them feel in the face of that? They feel like nobodies. They feel like failures. And most of them continue to feel that way the rest of their lives. Owing to the cult of aspiration. I imagine other industries are the same. Not everybody can be the boss. If you're not the boss are you a "failure?" Is your life meaningless? Are you "NOBODY?" Because that's what that sign says to me. And that's a load of crap. We all go in the same ground when we die. Maybe if we stopped telling children they were destined for great things (and instead focused on teaching them to seek happiness and fulfillment) they wouldn't be so disappointed when they find out that most of them, by mathematical definition, actually aren't. And that's okay. Or at least it should be.
I tend to agree with this. A lot of the millennials think that the greatest achievement in life nowadays is being famous or going viral. I remember reading a study where they asked kids what the greatest future goal would be and the majority answer was to be famous. I'm not ragging on millenials, (as I'm one myself) but everyone thinks they are special. You can see this with the way these people document every action on Twitter/Instagram and Facebook. But in reality unless you are JJ Watt or Obama nobody knows you, nobody gives a damn and no one cares. But that's ok. It's ok to not be famous or rich or whatever people have been brainwashed into thinking is the best way to live.
