1] Be a famous rock ‘n roll musician
2] Be a famous actor
3] Write a bestselling novel that becomes a blockbuster movie.
4] Create a new social media platform, like Facebook.
5] Be a famous talk show host, because that’s what talk show hosts are…
Okay, okay I get it. Not everyone is a multi-millionaire celebrity actor-rock star-writer-creator-talk show host….blah blah blah…
But understand that not being in one of the aforementioned categories constitutes being “nobody’ in the context of popular culture.
Seriously.
Of course, most thinking people know that “relevance” isn’t measured by popular culture, though graduate level courses may soon be required to clear up the confusion.
MANIFESTATIONS OF THE PATHOGEN
Post something mildly controversial to any online article and you can count on someone responding with something along the lines of “Who are you?” “Go back to your dead end job!” “You’re a nobody! How much do you make?”
Of course, they could be addressing someone who discovered the cure for Tuberculosis, but it wouldn’t matter because they assume that people who do great things are on the cover of People Magazine, like the rest of the gods, beyond the breath and scope of man.
This is the voice of America’s collective unconscious: We are invisible. We don’t matter. No one cares.
This psycho-pathology then takes a dangerous turn: “I have to make them care. I have to make them notice me. I have to make myself matter [to them, not to me, because I can’t validate myself].”
Road rage is another manifestation of this nightmare: “You think I’m nobody? “Not for long, MF!”
Then the manifestos left by people who commit mass murder in schoolyards: “You will remember me. I will live forever!”
~~~
All of this is the back noise of our culture that affects people of all ages, races and creeds to one degree or another.
Take affluent older men, for example.
What makes them relevant if they happen not to fall into the aforementioned categories?
1] A desire – and ability to – engage people of all ages.
2] Staying in shape, serious shape.
3] Reading, listening, learning always.
4] Knowing technology, the lifeblood of our era.
5] Refusing to babble on about artificial hips, aching joints, and dead and dying friends.
6] Challenging themselves every day, even if it’s sitting still and at peace for 5 minutes a day.
7] Throwing their shoulders back and moving forward like they mean it, not like someone’s dragging them.
8] Staying clear of convention when it suits them.
9] Going to therapy to help separate self-perception from delusion.
10] Not allowing other people to determine how they feel about themselves.
People admire those who aren’t affected by other people, who live their own lives, true to themselves.
“There’s a wonderful sense of well-being that begins to circulate . . . up and down your spine. And you feel something that makes you almost want to smile. So what’s it like to be me? Ask yourself, ‘What’s it like to be me?’ The only way we’ll ever know what it’s like to be you is if you work your best at being you as often as you can, and keep reminding yourself that’s where home is.” Bill Murray in Rolling Stone interview
http://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/2014/11/06/bill-murray-worlds-regular-guy/
We can’t change our actual age, be we can certainly change the way we approach it.
I challenge destiny every day of my life.
I also challenge beliefs [my own included], tackle misconceptions, and don’t let life roll over me.
It will if you let it.
Remember, life is a food chain and you are dinner unless you matter more alive.