Far, far away... from comparison.
We are gifted with a unique ability to compare what may usually not be compared, and it does not cost us anymore to compare than not to.
So we take upon ourselves this burdenless responsibility and go about it with an extraordinary zeal, ranking purely subjective entities such as beauty, achievement and intelligence. And so efficiently do we go about this task, that our entire lives are meaninglessly obsessed with a standard that never fit us in the first place, but which we have so much experience looking out for.
The mad rush to fit into these so called standards puts us in the hot cauldron of comparison - And only a few come unscathed out of it, some are so badly maimed that they are subject to ridicule for having tried to fit (and failed) into a standard that was not really theirs.
The rest, a majority that can adapt, manages to come to terms with it, settling down in the hierarchy somewhere - Not always getting what they deserved which they might have, had they only chosen a different, more apt benchmark for themselves.
An easy example is the notion of beauty, It is frustrating to watch as India's most 'creative' ad directors creatively destroy self esteem of a large majority of women with their standard of fairness as the single most important criterion for beauty.
As I read about otherwise smart people, who choose to go by the well trodden path which they should not be taking, given that they are smart - I can't help wondering the enormous power that familiarity, or perhaps a perception of it wields on the average human being.
It is frustrating to see a large majority of India's best minds all herded into engineering colleges and then pushed off abroad to study the same thing by a force that can only be explained by an obsession for the familiar. A familiarity that arises out of yet another obsession for such narrow minded comparison that it allows for just a few standards, when so many can be set, and so much more variety in beauty, achievement and intelligence can be appreciated.
So, how prone are you to these standards?
In other words, are you sure you are not the dark skinned woman trying to fit yourself into a standard that you are not meant for?
Even if you do, you will never be so much a fair beauty as you can be a dark skinned one.
If you pay too much attention to what those 'creative' directors say, the forces of comparison might take you too far behind to catch up.
So we take upon ourselves this burdenless responsibility and go about it with an extraordinary zeal, ranking purely subjective entities such as beauty, achievement and intelligence. And so efficiently do we go about this task, that our entire lives are meaninglessly obsessed with a standard that never fit us in the first place, but which we have so much experience looking out for.
The mad rush to fit into these so called standards puts us in the hot cauldron of comparison - And only a few come unscathed out of it, some are so badly maimed that they are subject to ridicule for having tried to fit (and failed) into a standard that was not really theirs.
The rest, a majority that can adapt, manages to come to terms with it, settling down in the hierarchy somewhere - Not always getting what they deserved which they might have, had they only chosen a different, more apt benchmark for themselves.
An easy example is the notion of beauty, It is frustrating to watch as India's most 'creative' ad directors creatively destroy self esteem of a large majority of women with their standard of fairness as the single most important criterion for beauty.
As I read about otherwise smart people, who choose to go by the well trodden path which they should not be taking, given that they are smart - I can't help wondering the enormous power that familiarity, or perhaps a perception of it wields on the average human being.
It is frustrating to see a large majority of India's best minds all herded into engineering colleges and then pushed off abroad to study the same thing by a force that can only be explained by an obsession for the familiar. A familiarity that arises out of yet another obsession for such narrow minded comparison that it allows for just a few standards, when so many can be set, and so much more variety in beauty, achievement and intelligence can be appreciated.
So, how prone are you to these standards?
In other words, are you sure you are not the dark skinned woman trying to fit yourself into a standard that you are not meant for?
Even if you do, you will never be so much a fair beauty as you can be a dark skinned one.
If you pay too much attention to what those 'creative' directors say, the forces of comparison might take you too far behind to catch up.
posted by Mohanakrishna C at 9:41 PM
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