Individualism

There is a prevalent belief today that everyone is 'special'. This idea is instilled in us at a very early age and has lead to such extremes as giving everyone at a track meet a reward because 'everyone is special', not just the winners. I, like so many others, accepted the ideal of being unique, without giving thought to its inherent ridiculousness. The glaringly obvious problem is that everyone cannot be special simply by definition.

'Everyone' means 'all persons', and if everyone is special that means each individual is unique. So far so good. But what does 'special' or 'unique' mean? It means, of course, to be different which raises the obvious question: different from what? In a lineup of red apples, if one retains a stem with leaves it becomes unique from the rest. If we see something and remark 'that's weird' it is based on our previous knowledge of what is 'normal' and that item's deviation from our accepted perception. Therefore, for something to be 'special' it must have something 'normal' to be different from.

It could be argued that each person is different from the other person rather than some Platonic standard of 'normal', but that has problems. If faced with two different objects claiming to be the same sort of thing, one of them could be incorrect, or both could be correct, but the only way to be sure is to look at a larger collection of that sort of object and compare the two. If you had never seen a car before and were presented with a lorry and an SUV, which one would be closer to the automobile? It is through looking at a lot of cars that the conclusion the SUV is closer. The point of this is that you cannot say someone is special while only basing it on others that are different. A thing cannot be unique, different, or special unless there is a larger body of similar objects from which it can be different from.

If, in order to be special, there must be a general normal to be special from, who or what is the normal? If everyone is special, then nobody is special. The winner of a track meet is special because everyone else, ie the majority norm, lost. If 'everyone is a winner', then by definition nobody is a winner. In an effort to remove losing, winning has been expunged as well. Thus, in an effort to glorify being 'special', the ability to actually be special has been entirely lost.

The first step is to admit that not everyone is special all the time. That way we can bring the word back into the subject at all. The next obvious question is what is the 'normal' from which the 'special' is derived. When speaking of abilities, a natural genius at math is special because he is better than the average. Someone with a particular handycap is special because he cannot walk and most people can. In fact, most people have at least one or two things that really are special -- but to say all of them are special all the time in all ways is impossible. If you lose the sprint at the track meet, you may not be special at that moment, but the next time you could win the marathon. 'Everyone is special' is a contradiction that needs to be ended.

The idea of telling children they are special, even with no effort and through no merit of their own, is at best a lie. Being unique takes work, like everything else in life. Being special needs to be striven for. We are not born with it. Next time, instead of saying 'you are special' try saying 'that was special' or 'you have become special'. This brings back meaning to 'you have won' rather than 'you are already all winners'. Any child knows the difference of winning the race only to be treated like everyone else rather than being treated as the special winner they are.

By calling everyone special -- no-one is special. Treating everyone the same because they are unique is ridiculous. By elevating everyone we have lowered everyone. There is no longer any such thing as 'special' or 'unique'.

The definition of special is that the particular person is different than the masses. Like ^ a triangle. In modern thought, everyone is treated the same - like a line. ^ does not equal - therefore ^, or modern thought, cannot be correct. The original idea of special, that a person is or did something unique from the average looks like ^ a triangle as well. ^ = ^ therefore the latter concept is the correct one. A=B doesn't work, A=A does. Modern thought is incorrect. In order to be unique, people cannot be so in all ways all the time. There must be a 'normal' majority. The less 'special' winners there are, the more meaning it has. Yes, the more the heartbreak of losing, but you can't have both. Either there are no winners and life is meaningless, or people have to learn to deal with a bit of let downs.

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