Celebrating mediocrity- Page 3

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:12pm

Ronin, I thought I was making a "fashion statement," but that's not the way my dad -- who was a creative, intelligent, innovative, successful, professional FASHION DESIGNER -- saw it. He had nothing against the "mod" or "unconventional" looks of the times. You should see how he and mom dressed! But he was right. I wasn't doing it because I thought it "looked good." I was doing it because "everyone else was."

I have always had trouble "fitting in." It was confounding for a long while, but once I embraced the fact that I didn't think or act like "most people," I started living my own life and being who I am meant to be, not what ANYONE ELSE thinks I should.

That's what I want in a president: someone who challenges the status quo and asks people to examine their motives, break free of their fear and stand up for the principles and rights we proclaim everyone is entitled to. In my experience, within the "group," there is a lack of empathy and a feeling of "I'm being cheated" that alienates anyone who is "different."

And so mediocrity abounds...because people are afraid they'll be shunned, scorned or, worse, ignored all together.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:13pm

I guess that's our difference of opinion, Jane. I look for (and to) people who want to improve.

I don't accept my flaws. I want to try to do something about them. I may not succeed, and I can still be proud of who I am, and proud of the fact that I tried... or am trying.

But I don't "accept" quite so readily.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:14pm

Besty, if I could possibly win an actual election, I would actually like to serve in government. But the choices that I have, and have not made, make that impossible.

I think we have been terribly served by our government, by both parties. Too many people have been marginalized, and those in power, on both sides of the aisle, have made it OK to look at someone who does not agree with you and say "he is wrong" rather than acknowledging that you can disagree with the course someone plots, but still have the objective to get to the same place.

The one thing that I really do like about Obama is that he makes me think of possibilities, rather than probabilities. I think that is a terribly important distinction. Clinton did the same (though his personal failings got in the way of what was possible) as did Reagan (whose course I disagreed with, but not the objective).

Unlike you Miss P, my family was intent on trying to make me fit in. And, as a child, I was thought to be (at least by my mother) developmentally disabled. It was not until an IQ test in grade school that everything changed. My mom's jaw nearly fell to the floor when the results came back - and because of that one test, my life changed. I was giving the special attention I needed in order to find the right way to learn, analyze and assess information. I struggled to find a way to wire my thought processes correctly. You have no ideas of the struggles I had with basic English, sentence structure, and reading comprehension.

So, from my experience, if you accept that you are mediocre, you will be mediocre. But for that one test, my life might have been very different.

So, from my limited perspective, each of us has gifts. Some may be more obvious than others, and some may be more convenient than others. But none of us is mediocre, if given the chance and tools to prove otherwise.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:20pm

YWIW, that was the best speech I have heard throughout the entire campaign season!!!

Vote for YWIW and remember, a vote for her is a vote for YOU!

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:21pm

Besty. I used to be too hard on myself and it didn't make me very happy. I finally realized that humans are not perfect, and never will be.

I still have a hard time excusing my own mistakes but I'm getting better at it daily. I like to be around people who are happy with themselves also.

So I guess it is a difference of opinion. Vive la difference!

[Yawper]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:29pm

I think another aspect that cannot be overlooked is how much one's financial status plays a role today. Over the last few decades the wealth gap has really shackled people and deprived them of opportunities, educational and experiential, even if it just means kids not getting exposure to various environments, arts, cultures, etc.

There's no doubt the monied have ruled to roost in the US for the last 30 or so years.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:44pm

Yawper, I think that is true to an extent, but I know plenty of people who have next to nothing when it comes to finances, but still they find a way to work art and culture into their lives. And they're quite intellectual as well. So, yes economics can and does affect options, no question about that. But that doesn't mean you can't seek out ways to grow...as long as you value it as integral to living a meaningful existence.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:52pm

I still have a lot of trouble believing that there was a time not too long ago in American society when everyone read intelligent books, read the newspaper, cared about theater and voted for the smart guy.

Pennywise, wasn't your dad technically getting you to conform to his point of view? Not only that, but if your dad was a FASHION DESIGNER, I'm assuming he was considered such by other people, who respected and validated his point of view, normalizing it in some circles.

I don't think the president should get too far from the status quo. Hitler had an individual POV. I think the status quo should change, hold itself to a better standard that elects the president and prevents people like Bush and Palin. I think people should stop asking the president to hypnotize people and start at the ground level if we want to change the world and ask people to be better than mediocre. Maybe start with ourselves. That's why we live in a Democracy.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:56pm

I have to agree with Yawper - especially when it comes to educational opportunities.

When I was a kid, public schools were fine, and college and graduate school was affordable.

The failure of our public schools is the single biggest crime perpetrated on this country.

And Ronin, I don't think people are saying that. I think the distinction is that people were not mocked for doing those things - somehow pointed to as being part of the problem.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 11:35pm

There is no question that our public education system is a mess, to put it mildly.

The point I was trying to make is that I don't think we, as a culture, value the arts and education for their own sake. The arts are a "distraction" to some people and education exists only to help people get jobs that pay well. That's all.

Regarding my dad, Ronin, the thing is, he didn't say, "You march yourself upstairs right now young lady and put on clothes that I can be proud of!" He was sincerely asking me if I thought what I was wearing was "appealing" because he wanted to understand my perspective. After all, his profession demanded that he have a sense of what women wanted to wear and why.

I went out that day dressed just as I was when he asked me about my outfit. I didn't change my clothes nor did he ask me to. It wasn't until years later that I understood what meaning his comment had for me. I have always treasured that moment and appreciated his encouraging me to be myself.

Updated On: 9/29/08 at 11:35 PM

[Yawper]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 11:51pm

Here's another sticking point - what's excellent and valuable or even what constitutes art and culture varies according to who's making the determination. There's good and bad theater, there's good and bad rap, there's good and bad country music - but some will say no rap is good, no country music is good - it's all about personal experience.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 9/29/08 at 12:29am

Totally. To bring up a more consequential example, some people are pro-life, some pro-choice. But if you need the people who think abortion is wrong to remind us that there is something morally reprehensible about it, just as you need the pro-choice people to remind us why it should still be legal.

You need bad theater to compare to good theater, and you need mediocrity to rise above it.

[Q]

Posted: 9/29/08 at 2:57am

Redacted. Decided I couldn't care less. Updated On: 9/29/08 at 02:57 AM

[jasonf]

Posted: 9/29/08 at 8:21am

I didn't read through the whole thread, though what I read was very interesting. I just want to add the comment that this mediocrity is VERY prevalent in our schools. Kids believe that if there's a contest and a prize is going to the winner that the second place person should win just as much because they put in the effort. Grades, at least in my school district up to high school, mean NOTHING -- kids with straight As pass just as someone who has straight Fs, and so what difference does being extraordinary make? We don't push the kids as a culture to be better than average, and so only those rare kids who have parents who really care enough or have that internal motivation to succeed ever really push themselves to be more than average.

Of course, this is all trickled down from parents who were raised to believe that they deserve a job better than their parents only to find all these jobs shipped over seas or in some other way less than what they expected. The "American ideal" has been crushed under lowered expectations where the middle class can't possibly hope to achieve to the levels of the upper any more.