Our cultural mantras of “Build it and they will come” and “If you can dream it, you can do it” have become a social gospel that one best not question if he doesn’t want to be pegged as a vision-less, nay-saying grouch. We tell children they can do anything they set their minds to, but can they? I would have loved nothing better than to be the next Barbra Streisand. But I could have pursued that goal until the cows came home—it wasn’t gonna happen.
When we tell our children that any goal is within their grasp if only they want and pursue it enough, we not only mislead them and create unrealistic expectations for their future, we suggest that a life as a regular person doing regular things is not worth having. When we tell women that it’s not enough to be okay-looking—that they must believe they are beautiful and convince everyone else of the same—we imply that their worth is a function of their physical beauty.
At a time in which those who are disabled, sick, old or unborn are increasingly seen as expendable, I would prefer a different message: whether you are beautiful or homely, athletic or uncoordinated, strong or weak, intellectually gifted or of average IQ, there is a door for you. It’s called “Human,” and when any man, woman, or child can walk proudly through it and meet up with respect and consideration on the other side, then we will have truly achieved something.
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