Saturday, May 25, 2013

Normal vs. Special

I've heard it said that people spend their childhood wishing they were normal and their adulthood wishing they were special. This isn't always completely correct though. Sometimes the opposite happens. Sometimes the change in either direction never occurs. What really matters here is the principle behind it.

People who are special feel isolated. They cannot connect with others because they don't have a common ground or a common means of communication. Feeling alone is counter to the social needs of humanity.

The problem is that people who are normal feel boring. We generally prize rarity. The more common something is, the less valuable it becomes. So if you are perfectly normal, you are basically worthless. You are in interchangeable cog in the mechanism of life.

What makes this the worst is that these two feelings are diametrically opposed. Being normal makes you not special. Being special makes you not normal. Ultimately, one must realize where in the spectrum they lie, where they want to be, and must find happiness where they end up.

File this one under "just as true for authors as it is for their characters".

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