For some to be extraordinary, many must be ordinary.

This is merely logical, though it would appear that our modern society has deemed logic to be such an unworthy confinement as to disregard it wholly, tossing it out to the curb like yesterday's rubbish. Refusing to let common sense bring us down we build ourselves up around it and section of its pitfall with yellow caution tape and a warning post for good measure.

Danger! Harsh truths ahead!

Some refuse to simply acknowledge the existence of such a threat, turning their heads at the mere mentioning of such a thing. These people are content to live their life running, hot on the tails of magnificence, stacking brick after brick of achievements, of talents, of praise and accomplishments. Reaching for the sky, extending arms to touch the stars they have been told they possess the potential to join. They search for their amazement that is surely inside of them, making mountains out of molehills to transform themselves into something special. Filled with a passionate yearning for better selves and yet desire no betterment. Improvement is not, necessarily, what they are dreaming of. For here, one cannot construct themselves to greatness; one must simply be great. They live, chasing only when no one is looking, building only when no one is looking, wanting only when no one is looking. And when someone is looking, masking their efforts at extraordinary least a sliver of doubt that there are, in fact, efforts involved worms its way into your mind, believing that anyone truly extraordinary need not work for something already owned.

This may sound ludicrous, because - how can anyone expect to be perfect right off the bat? People must work at their skill, hone their craft. Mozart did not just sit down in front of a piano one day and decide to compose his Piano Concerto No. 21. Anna Pavlova did not become one of the most famous ballerinas in the world by sitting on her butt. Michelangelo did not begin with the Sistine Chapel.

As such, I would like to, before this proceeds any further, make clear what 'being extraordinary' really means by repeating myself: for some to be extraordinary, most must be ordinary.
Yes, even those that are honestly extraordinary must commit to hours, to days, to years, of practice, time that is invested to nurturing their skills. Nurturing, as one would nurture a flower into blooming. This is where the distinction lies. A flower already having taken root, weak and young and fragile as it may be, has promising odds of flourishing. A seed just planted in the earth has promise as well, but only in the right hands will it come to fruition. The seed may eventually be indistinguishable from the already grown flower, but its roots will never be as strong. Do not mistake this flower for anything but what it represents. The flower, in this scenario, is extraordinary-ness.

Which brings me back to the main point of this essay: not that some people are extraordinary and some aren't, but that, as is generally accepted, if one starts with a seed, one must make it grow and eventually flower. Anything else means that you are not extraordinary, and thus, by definition, are merely ordinary.

And just as there are people that struggle with not being extraordinary, there are people that struggle with being ordinary. They, unlike their forever denying counterparts, have realized that they cannot make their seed grow; they've tried and they've tried to no avail. Accepting that one will never be extraordinary is one thing, and accepting that that is okay is quite another. Especially when faced with all these people that seem to be extraordinary, that scorn anything else. Neither of them is happy. Knowing you are unable of meeting expectations is just as bad as wasting your life away trying to do so.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are people that have seen this ditch, marched right past the danger sign and looked the truth in the eyes. They will, then, do one of two things. They can turn to anger, resenting not only the unreasonable expectations of being extraordinary placed high above everyone's heads but also the people that devote their lives to meeting this expectation, pretending to be something that they are not, and the people that cannot move past their inabilities to do so.

Which brings up another thing that requires clearing up: not everyone that reaches for the stars is doing so for other people; some simply want to be great for themselves. However, anger does not differentiate and so anyone that seems extraordinary - for whatever reason - is met with scorn from those that have realized that extraordinary is a foolish notion. This can only lead to one thing: judgment from basically every possible angle.

The people that try to be extraordinary look down on the people that realize that they can't be extraordinary and hate the people that don't want to be extraordinary because of their judgment.

The people that can't be extraordinary simultaneously envy and hate both the people that try to be extraordinary because they make it look so easy and because they judge them, and the people that don't want to be extraordinary because they've given up and because they judge them.

The people that don't want to be extraordinary hate both the people that try to be extraordinary and the people that can't be extraordinary, while judging them both.

Among these three type of people, however, are those that realize that after they ignore the caution tape and see the truth the easiest thing to do is simply to bend to logic and move on with their lives, happy to be free of unreasonable expectations allowing them to just be themselves while not really giving a damn about what other people choose to do. They are, unfortunately, few and far between. Until they are no longer a minority, the world will continue to be a spinning ball of hatred, jealousy, judgment, and just general miserableness.

Because obviously, who knows what complications might arise if we just let people be happy.