Every once in a while, I find myself deeply appreciating certain aspects of my place in life. In short, I am pretty much a…"nobody". I am often in the company of those who hold small or great sway over the lives and fortunes of others, and I have even known those whom others quote or turn to for important advice. I also have, a few times, sought higher status or fortune or title. All the titles I have are okay, but they really do little to afford me great status or respect. Whatever status or respect I have I have received for other reasons, I guess. And even when respect, trust, or "status" are something others might think about, there is never enough to change my place in life. When I was younger, I have to admit that this did bother me.
One thing that this has shown over the years that there really is kindness in the world. Some do what they do in order to ingratiate themselves to others of importance. The rare times when I have been, temporarily, "important" (part of that "few minutes of fame" thing, I guess) I've recognized that the more important one is the less sincerity they can usually expect from others. That's too bad. If those who hold positions of importance were made—on the whole—to act with their hearts and heads instead of their egos…well, this world would be far different. The problem with "position" in life is that it often winds up feeling to be "deserved" by those who have it. Perspective is lost all too easily, I've observed. I guess that it's been that sense of "entitlement" that I have seen in others that has saddened me the most. It builds fortress walls around the egos of those who have it.
Here's a problem to ponder for anyone who might read this. I can't really think of one "great" deed that has benefited this world—and I mean BENEFITTED this world—that was done by a person of great stature. The powerful have only "done" useful things by stepping aside and allowing others to accomplish what must be done. When power takes the reins of action, ego does the driving. When power shares the control—and the greater the sharing the better, sometimes—actions and outcomes are enabled that can bring change without oppression or suffering. The problem here is to think through history to agree or not.
The one real corollary has to do with "group dynamics" or "group think." I have a poster on my wall at work with hands collected in the center—like a team preparing for a game—and the title: "None of us is as stupid as all of us". Another fascinating observation. There seems to be a human tendency to hold the goals and ethics of any cohesive group to such a low level that they suit the least goal-oriented and ethical in the group. It's as if the group operates a notch below the least individual in order that all feel superior and that all can act—as a group—together. In cases when the group is more important than the ethics and goals they stand for (e.g., a political party) the group acts with the same disdain and entitlement as any powerful and ego-driven individual. Another thing to think about.
I could not, probably, write this now without a sense of free-agency that I get from having essentially no real "stature". That's good. You can forget me and remember my words.
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