I'm Special

Hello, my name is Daniel and I am special.

“And what makes you so frickin’ special?” you ask.

Well, I have countless reasons, really. For instance, I’ve these really hot sunglasses that make me look like a rockstar and, like, 200 friends on Facebook. Also, I’ve traveled to a bazillion countries and read, like, a jillion books. Plus, I can do this really freaky thing with my tongue and the guy that invented gobstoppers is my great uncle twice removed.

So obviously, I am precious.

Welcome to modern day North American culture where we are all so fucking special. We have (fake) designer hand bags and asymmetrical hairdos and cell-phones on which we loudly jabber away in public spaces. We are the starlets of reality television and the celebs of YouTube. We have coffee orders more complex than strands of DNA and personalized exercise regiments that involve “special” shakes, crunches, and lycra shorts. We have become embedded with the notion that we can do anything, have anything, and want everything. We have special needs created for us, and then have a special sense of entitlement to have them specially met.

We are in an era of Me-ism, where “specialness” is virtually synonymous with individuality or individualism. To achieve greatness in this culture, all we have to do is worship three important deities: me, myself, and I. Scholars have noted that persons in individualistic cultures are primarily motivated to serve their own interests. As such, personal success and achievement often trump societal or communal goals. But this little tidbit of information is more intrinsic than ground-breakingly academic.

Our post-modern thought processes might include many rationalizations of our actions: “Family? Are you kidding? I have a career to build” or “I can have that SUV because I deserve it (and because public transit is just so tedious)”. We are bombarded with choice and consumer “power”, and smart marketing strategies give the illusion that we are special. But are we?

In days of yore, it was a bit easier to be truly special. If you were literate, voila, you were special. If you were a woman with a beard, if you owned a parrot, or if you added a new element to the periodic table, then chances are you were pretty damn special. In fact, a couple of hundred years ago, one didn’t want to be too special or you might just be burnt as a witch. In current times, however, it’s pretty hot to be special.

So what makes people actually special these days?

It’s a tough question, but I have come up with some preliminary guesses. Courtesy, generosity and valor are special. People who hold doors open and give up seats on the bus are top notch in my books. In a world of glossy pop radio, Starbuck’s up sales, and botox expressions, I feel minor pulses of electricity surge through me when someone is sincerely pleasant with me. Initiative is pretty special. Those people who are actually engaged in doing what they love, whether it’s for themselves or their communities, have something uncommon going on. Finally, having a trade is special. A person who can make furniture or tailor clothes or fix an engine impresses me. It seems counter-intuitive how simple things have suddenly become special.

I think simplicity is the new special.

Of course, these are all my ideas of what is special, and the list is certainly not exhaustive. You may think my ideas to be boring or antiquated (and I might not disagree), but for each humanoid the concept of what is “special” is going to be personal. And, yes, I try to fit myself into that list whenever possible.

The truth is that I’m just your average university student trying to figure out what he’s doing with his life. Sometimes it helps to believe that I’m special, simply to ease an overwhelming message which is a byproduct of living in an individualist culture. The message reads like this: YOU are responsible for actualizing your own human potential and finding your own happiness. (Woah… why’d you have go all “Doctor Phil” on me?) Perhaps this sounds profound or sad or tiresome or even misinterpreted, but this is what I have learned - if it’s an individualistic culture, then I am individually responsible.

Yet whether you belief that or not, I still think we all want to feel special. Perhaps we even have a right to be special. So whether it’s your single-shot, decaf, tall, hazelnut latte or the fact that you can sing like Pavarotti, I guess we just need to choose carefully what will make us individuals… what will make us “special”.

Thanks for the music, Pavarotti... you were indeed special.

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