The Common Folk

I had this thought today, as I read through TED.com's 'youth' section. It's probably a dead horse idea, by now: I'm sure everyone knows that the average Joe isn't looked up to, admired, or given more than a passing thought. I'm sure that there's an infinite number of reasons as to why this rant of mine is illogical. There's probably many exceptions to my statement. They've all been noted, and I'm still writing. Also, this is heavily general, so don't feel too proud if you find a flaw. I'm sure there's many.

So, there I was, reading TED's website--the section about extraordinary kids doing things like researching cancer and programming amazing things. All these incredible successes: there was a kid who built a nuclear reactor in his garage. Anyway, I'm seeing all these things, and then I'm suddenly hit with a realization.

Nobody (Bear in mind, that in this case, 'Nobody' is just a blanket term I'm using because I'm in a bit of a rush and finding the proper word would take too much time) celebrates the common folk. More than that, nobody celebrates the just 'skilled'. Nobody respects the people with multiple areas of knowledge: not unless they're experts in all of them.

Nobody notices the kid who is good at math, writes, acts, and draws, not unless that kid is Einstein, Tolkien, Harrison Ford, or Picasso. Unless he's extraordinary in one or all of his areas of skill, he's not given any acknowledgement. He might write a great essay, something really solid and intelligent. He should be congratulated for that. Instead, he was most likely outshined by the person who specializes in writing, by the person whose entire life centers on words.

Maybe he puts on a top-tier performance. Good for him, but he's easily overtaken by the Actor-kid who was raised his entire life to make it to the top of the bracket. How does a jack-of-all-trades compete with the ace-of-one? He's considered common, with another person being better on every front.

I recognize that the world works in that way: there's always someone better. But to a Jack, someone who's skilled at multiple things, how must it feel to be able to do so many things, but never recognized for any of them? At least in the case of the Actor, he'd get some solace in the knowledge that he's still good enough.

Not so for the Jack. If the Actor made it on Broadway, even as a minor role, he still achieved that benchmark. The Jack never made it that far, even if he was good at acting.

I consider myself a Jack. Look, this is where writer bias comes in, I know. I've done a lot of things, and I'm sure I'll learn many more in my life. That being said, I've never felt good enough, or even good. I've seen the specialist in every category overtake the Jack. People have told me before that "they can't do everything you can". It's true, the specialist can't do certain things that the Jack can. He has that advantage over the one.

But there's a specialist for every category. For every 'A+' that the Jack gets in a science class, there's the kid with the nuclear garage-reactor. For every piece of art that the Jack creates, there's the specialist who won the state art contest. No matter what the Jack does, a specialist overtakes him.

My chief fear in this is what will come in the future. What happens when the Jack applies for a job, being perfectly qualified, and a Specialist gets the job, being unnaturally qualified? If the job is as a researcher, and there's one spot available, how does the Jack compete with the Harvard Graduate? By saying they can also draw and play the piano? Those aren't traits that would get them hired as a researcher.

This is a problem that spreads to all walks of life. How does the Jack eke his living when the Specialists are always making him second best?

All of this seems very angry and cynical, and it probably looks like there's no point to it. I guess my point is...

The common folk is every bit as deserving of respect as the Specialists. I'm not saying that all average people are Jacks, or that they have skills that are simply overshadowed. A lot of this rant was just an extended analogy to prove the main point.

All I'm asking is that the world doesn't shove aside those who are good, just because there's someone better.