YOU ARE SPECIAL

In this world we are so arrogant that we have made up and are constantly repeating the
same lie for decades, if not centuries. It's a rather contagious lie that isn't going to die down anytime
soon. It's gonna be hard to accept, but none of us really fit that lie. Ladies and gentlemen, please allow
me the next few moments of your time to elaborate on the dangers of the lie, you are very special, and
why we are actually quite the opposite.

The definition of special is better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual, according to Google.
Take a look at the person next to you and compare them to someone else in the room. No matter how
different those two people are they will always have something similar, no matter what. Think about this,
7.5 billion people in the world, how many of these people will have no characteristics or personality
traits shared with anyone? No one. There are really only a few traits you can choose from, there's gotta
be someone, who's similar to you in even one way. So truly, not anything too different. Me. Filipino ,
along with 1 in every 5 people. Although there is a slightly larger percentage of boys to girls, 7.5 billion
doesn't in any way make that too special. 1.75 cm. Average height as the people of the Netherlands, and
I probably have multiple doppelgangers living in the world because of the way people look at things.
Average intelligence, probably like all of you here.I 'm very common, very ordinary. Not what people
would think as special, and no better or worse than anyone else. Even so, lack of a certain trait doesn't
always count as better or greater. Take self cannibalism for example, although it's uncommon, you
wouldn't exactly want your best friend to be diagnosed with it. Or even Pica, a disorder when people eat
things compulsively with no nutritional value like hair, wool, glass. It'll be useful if they could digest
rubbish and plastic, but not exactly what you had in mind for the definition of special. Different from the
usual. Although the are the certain people who may be different, there will always be others just like
them.

Perhaps it's because of ownership that we continue to shower others with the lie that we
are special. Studies have not only proved that the saying that a bird in the hand is worth more than two
in the bush, but only 10% of people would trade the one in their hand for another. Even so, that is no
excuse to continue showering others with this lie. Just think about how hurt they will be when they get
rejected for school auditions and don't get the top grades. It's often the only child in a family that suffer
the most from this lie because they have no one to compare with how special their parents treat them.
When reality hits them, all hell breaks loose. One of my second cousins from China came over in the last
summer holidays, an only child. Her life is very different from ours, her parents gave her everything, and I
mean everything in a literal sense, she wanted. When she stayed over, there were many times where she
couldn't fit with us. The one time that stuck in my mind the most was one morning, my cousin was crying
over the fact that she only had one piece of chocolate bread out of the four total pieces my mother had
bought for the four kids. She believed that since she was the so called special one, all four pieces were
bought for her. Pathetic is the word for it. And this wasn't the only time she cried over bread. This is only
one child, but there must be others in the world who are just like her. Think about how much of this
drama we could have avoided if her parents just didn't encourage her so much on how special she was?
It's even the same for horror movies, people are scared of them because marketers know how special
they feel when and after they watch it. People believe that the evil demons must be targeting
themselves because they are so special, of course they'll be targeted.

If we are all special, than wouldn't that mean that we are all the same, ordinary? That's
exactly the case. We are all ordinary human beings that fit like cogs in the forever turning machine of
society. Cogs that won't cooperate or are much better than the rest of the cogs will have trouble fitting
into the machine and will eventually be replaced by other more cooperative and better working cogs.
Although the machine changes once every so often, it's more that we need to fit into the machine than
the machine needs to change for the cogs. Although individuality is not a bad thing and not all people
who like to express their individuality are conceited, there are a good amount of people who are so
obsessed over being individual they have gotten to the point to being conceited, making life worse of for
not only themselves but others. We need people to know that they are ordinary human beings, living in
ordinary societies, and living ordinary lives so that they won't have the arrogance to believe that they are
better off or worse off than others. Wouldn't that solve a lot of problems? There would be no racism,
sexism, arrogance, self anxiety, and people would help others a lot more, just because more of us will
know that we are all alike. Life could turn more into the utopia we have all wanted than the depressing
selfish reality we have today.

So stay humble, help others, and be happy that we are ordinary. But remember this,
whenever you approach your individuality, that you are not special, just like all of us.