What does that even mean? Well, saying "live above the influence/norm/standard" all would have been along the same line, but I say live above the comparisons because everyone's standards or norms are different. People need to start learning to expect more of themselves.
How many times have you thought, or even said, "Right, I might be doing this thing below my potential, but compared to so-and-so its 10 times better." Or "Well... at least I did better than them."
Give yourself a pat on the back, you've surpassed someone who is deciding to work/live below their potential too!
I feel a lot of pressure to be perfect, but I have a real expectation for myself that I cannot be perfect. Unfortunately, sometimes that bleeds into the thought "Is it unrealistic to expect me to do ALL of that! Look at so-and-so, they don't do any of it! At least I'm doing better than that."
That is called complacency, excuses, and a lack of determination to be better.
Our society, this generation, is failing the world. These days, it is so normal to hear about tragedy, shootings, hatred, selfishness, scandals, and corruption. Take the notorious revenge porn site operator, the Arizona stockbroker who killed his wife with a golf club, Beiber getting arrested with a DUI, the teacher who plead guilty for sex abuse, or the man who shot his father-in-law in church. These were all the first new stories that came up just for today. Do ANY of them shock me? No.
Do they shock you?
I'm really not saying everyone is bad and the world is bad and we're all terrible.
What I think is important is that people start to SEE what's going on, and take personal action. The world's only going to get worse. I certainly don't want to raise any children in a world like this one, let alone whatever it will be like 10 years down the road when I'm sending them to school and hoping they'll be able to live above the influences around them.
We read about, hear about, and see awful things happen every single day. The consistency alone makes these things feel normal. With the first school shootings last year, the entire country tuned into the national news broadcasts to follow the story. Now look at us, not even a year later. Since the beginning of this year alone there has been an average of a school shooting every. other. day. I hadn't heard about a single one of them until I searched for it. We are conditioned to accept things as the "way they are", and we adjust our lifestyles and expectations for ourselves and others accordingly.
Well what if we adjusted them the other way? Every time we hear about something bad happening, we take a moment to feel the weight and sadness of that event happening in the world we live in, and then we ACT in a different way. I do not believe that we are wired to want to live below our potential, to do the least amount of work to get by. But I do believe society's taught us that it is acceptable and even encouraged to do so.
Be better. Be better than you were yesterday, better than the norm we live under, better than what everyone says is acceptable.
You're right Mr. 24/7-Porn-addict, pornography is extremely common! You're also right Miss. I-drink-to-forget-the-reality-of-my-life, using alcohol to escape is legal and therefore acceptable! You're right on the money Mr. I-have-control-in-my-home-so-I'll-treat-my-wife-and-kids-however-I-want, male dominance has been common for decades so you're upbringing may very well have conditioned you to think abuse is normal. (shall I go on?) Well, even though you're all "right", did you know that these things also kill people, families, marriages, happiness, love, hope, etc...
Be BETTER. I truly believe our souls want light and real joy. The destructive habits of society are literally all masterfully designed to condition us to become accustomed to violence, hatred, and selfishness. I also believe that if we consciously change what is considered normal for us, we can make a difference in the world. We can change the stories that come on the news everyday.
"I think some people are too scared, or something. I guess it's hard for people who are so used to things the way they are - even if they're bad - to change. 'Cause they kind of give up. And when they do, everybody kind of loses. " [Pay It Forward: Trevor McKenney.]
Take it from Trevor, we're all losing when we're too scared to change the way things are. Create a better world to live in, create a better place for your children.
Society's drawn the line.
Live better.
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