I haven't done anything in life. I haven't led a country forward; I haven't released an album. I haven't cured anyone; I haven't gone to war. I can't say that I've done anything in life because I haven't carried out any heroic actions. Neither have you nor I. We are nobody.
Surely, all individuals born on our planet wanted to be astronauts at some point. Or football players, or actors, or princesses... it doesn't matter, heroes in the end. Then, over time, it seems that aspirations become rationalized. One realizes in the long run that some things are more feasible than others. More serious, so to speak. A more accessible profession, with more opportunities or better compensation.
However, despite that, I consider that this pursuit of heroism is never lost. It's like energy: it is not destroyed but transformed. In other words, the desire to be an astronaut and discover new planets turns into the desire to be someone. And this someone has the common denominator of "wanting to do something in life," and the moment we don't do that something, we are nobody. We grow, and simultaneously descend to Earth, but we hit ourselves during the journey and get disoriented. We become foolish.
What does it mean to do something in life? Discover the cure for AIDS? Find the bones of a new prehistoric species? Why do we think we have lost that fervor of our childhood, that "foolishness," if we really continue to act the same way? In our current society, and perhaps in previous ones, I think these feelings respond to high degrees of demand and even cruelty. With oneself and also with others.
If I have a neighbor who is a waiter and another who is a truck driver, I already assume that they are nobody and have a monotonous life, unlike the citizens of Beverly Hills. Because they have money, they are someone. Let's stop equating being famous with being someone. Let's stop attributing "doing something in life" to an elite and start paying attention to the small things, the details.
Details that, returning to my thesis, I think are considered as such from society's point of view, by how it conceives things, but not from mine, nor surely from that of many people. Because having and raising a child is a very big thing. Or taking care of animals. Or teaching 25 children to read. Or selling fruit so that many families can be healthy. Even making someone laugh is. Enough with the demands.
Let's not take things for granted: let's step back and realize the complexity that many activities involve, which may seem ordinary, but each person adds enough strokes to transform them into a painting. Like those of Dalí, but also like those of Michael Jordan and Freddie Mercury, or like those of the teachers I have had who have contributed positive things to me. Paintings in the style of each one. Let's improve the world so that future generations don't fall into the black hole of "I haven't done anything with my life." We are all necessary. We are all someone.
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