What happens when you take out the -EST?

Best.
Prettiest.
Smartest.
Wealthiest.
Fastest.
Luckiest.
Nicest.
Sexiest.
Latest.
Greatest.
Happiest.

It seems counterproductive to encourage someone not to strive for any of the above. After all, haven't we been told from the cradle until now to always strive to be "our best"? We're all such fans of the idea that 'our best' exists somewhere in some Platonic form, reachable after some undetermined amount of time and effort. Some of us work like dogs every single day with a single-minded pursuit, eyes on the prize, sure of every step and setting ourselves up for the best way to get to the next step. Some of us work like dogs every single day in an effort to discover exactly what that focus should be. It may seem from the outside that the latter group is 'lost', or hasn't quite 'found their niche' or 'found their way'. I argue that neither group has, and neither group probably ever will.

Why? Because we operate on a system based on -EST words. We use these three little letters in a vain effort to measure the immeasurable. Someone's World's Sexiest Man Alive is someone else's Ugliest Person Imaginable. But, don't you think it makes said Sexiest Man Alive feel good to have that honor? They call the Valedictorian the 'smartest' person in the graduating class. What happens when the lower achieving kid goes on to make more money? Run a more successful business? Think about it - there isn't a single person I know (including myself) who doesn't feel good when the -EST is applied to something particularly important to them (You sang the BEST. You are the PRETTIEST girl I've ever seen. Isn't he the NICEST guy?)

-EST implies there is at least one other party that can't make that claim. That you've won, and that you are the very essence of whatever the -EST is attached to. It no longer becomes about 'our best' but THE best. And you know what they say about being the best - there will always be someone better. I don't care that there hasn't been another playwright like Shakespeare in 400 years, he may have been the BEST of his time, but there has been, and always will be, better (I'm gonna catch heat for that). Your life becomes about serving a need to invalidate other people in order to validate yourself (this is what I consider the very essence of competition). Most people that talk about achievement, happiness, goals, they all stress the important of 'personal best' - but underneath it all is the looming reality and unspoken truth of 'when you improve yourself, you make yourself better, so you can therefore be better than others, and maybe someday be the best.' Its not wrong to have goals, dreams, high aspirations, work hard, and dream - I'd actually think you quite an unhappy person if you didnt have any of these - but can we please, for god's sake, stop measuring the units of our success in terms of how much better we performed than someone else, how much more money we made, how many more friends we have, how many more points we scored - can we please stopped that?

I, for one, am tired of having to justify the incredible happiness of my life to those who 'have more' or 'do more'. It's not that I've 'settled' for my lot in life - far from it. The story of my life from childhood until now dictates that I shouldn't have even made it this far. And I won't stop. Because I have dreams. Beautiful, vivid dreams, goals and longings. I have this want to experience, and learn, and grow, and soak up every last bit of beautiful life that earth has to offer while I'm here. I want to take off the incredible burden of the -EST. I don't want to be the best. I just wanna....b(e).


-J