BUMMER-FREE ZONE

Nobody wants to be average anymore. Everyone wants to be rare. The only problem is that most of us reside right in the thick meaty center of the bell curve of life. On one side are the extraordinarily attractive and on the other are the exceptionally unattractive. On one side are the famous and on the other are the infamous. The brilliant, the stupid, the virtuous, the evil, the powerful, the powerless, the connected, the unconnected, the wealthy, the poor, etc... I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Most of us are none of these things- we're average.

I think it is fair to say that one side of the curve is easier to attain than the other. Is it easier to make yourself beautiful or hideous? Is it easier to attain fame or infamy? Is it easier to appear excpetionally brilliant or really rather stupid?

I have noticed a trend, which I find disturbing, in our society, and I believe it is, in part, this desire not be average that is fueling it. The desire to be rare is so strong that if one end of the curve is too difficult or impossible to obtain than people embrace the other.

It is not any more virtuous to strive for the more difficult end of the curve either. (plastic surgery, blind ambition, claw your way to the top, the pursuit of wealth, the desire to be famous, powerful, etc...)

I have resolved to be content to hang my shingle in the center of the curve and be content there. I will try and please God with how I live. I will try not to grasp after things I cannot (or should not) attain, or settle for something that is less than His will for me. I will strive to take from God everything He wants to give me and give Him everything he wants to take. I will seek to enjoy my time here and do the Lord's will, knowing that all the joys and pleasures of an eternity with God await. These days are not insignificant though. They are of eternal consequence, so let us be purposeful.

I'm in a ranting sort of mood this evening.