“PICK ME, PICK ME…”

 Photo Credit: ruurmo via Compfight cc

RAISE YOUR HAND

When we first go to school, we’re taught to raise our hands so that the teacher will “pick” us—and so it begins. For the rest of our lives we want to be picked by a hiring manager, a potential male or female suitor, by friends, and the list goes on. This is the first lesson that teaches us that we aren’t good enough as an individual and that there will always be someone smarter or faster than us; it teaches us that who we are isn’t good enough to fit in the world around us.

FITTING IN

But what exactly are we trying to fit into anyway? Some imaginary box that society says we must conform to and fit in? The irony is that no one fits into the box because there is no box. What’s good for you may not be good for me and vice versa. The so-called people that are in this imaginary box have actually just perfected the art of pretending. And unfortunately these people end up going crazy because it’s extremely hard to be anyone other than yourself. We have been taught not to like our authentic selves because “no one will pick you if you look like that” or if you “act like that.” So now that we have established that we aren’t good enough being who we are, we then move on to trying to perfect being someone; “…if only I could be like (fill in the blank).” During this process of wanting to be picked we no longer care about our fellow human being who is on the same hamster wheel that we’re on so we backstab and literally try to destroy them because “How dare they try to be picked?” And we wonder why there is so much hate and non-unity in the world. And to think it all started on that first day of school when the teacher told you to raise your hand so that she could “pick” you.

PUT YOUR HAND DOWN

“Like Tina did Ike in the limo, it finally hit me” ~Kevin McCall (Deuces)

I finally get it, it finally hit me that as long as you are waiting to be picked, it won’t happen. As soon as you raise your hand to be picked you have given power of attorney over your life to someone other than you, not to mention the fact that you’re not even this “picker’s” #1 priority which simply means they could care less if you succeed or fail. Just the other day I asked a couple of people to help me out with something and although it was a priority for me they could care less because I’m not their #1 priority. See without even realizing it, I wanted them to validate me and tell me that I was good enough. But why? Well it’s because that’s the way our society is structured, there are the people who do the picking and the rest of us wait to be picked. But guess what, every and I mean EVERY great idea and movement that we have today in this world came about because someone decided “screw that, I’ll pick myself.” So what are you waiting for? Put your hand down.

A few quotes I think sums up this post:

“The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable.” ~Paul Tillich

“Men are not against you; they are merely for themselves.” ~Gene Fowler, Skyline, 1961

“We probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do.” ~Olin Miller