When I was young, I wanted to be great. I wanted to be important, successful and powerful. I wanted to be put onto a pedestal, where I could get the adulation and approval I craved.
I wouldn’t have put it that way then, of course. I just thought I wanted the things my culture presented as normal goals for someone like me. (I understand now the degree to which being raised by a narcissistic father left me craving approval and attention.)
As I’ve gotten more emotionally healthy and psychologically mature, I’ve been surprised to find out that my desires in life have changed. It’s not that I’ve “given up.” It’s not that I’m settling for something easy after failing to achieve things I wanted.
My desires today are healthier and far more likely to make me happy. You see, I want to be ordinary. I want to be a good man. I want to be kind and loving and content with the joy of living an ordinary human life.
But I’ve recently discovered a fascinating paradox. As an ordinary man, I won’t have the things this world and our culture have always promised me. I won’t have wealth or power or adulation. But it turns out that the people who gain what the world and our culture promise won’t have what I have.
They won’t have the peace and contentment and joy of a man who’s living a simple and ordinary life.
This must be what it’s like to talk to people who believe earth is flat
If you want to win a chess match, you have to play chess, not lecture the other players
Taking responsibility for mistakes is foreign concept in many lawsuits
Ron Paul asks 31 tough questions that our politicians won’t answer
In ’98, Ron Paul warned U.S. policy was leading to terrorist attacks
At life’s end, who we’ve loved will matter more than what we’ve owned
Poll shows half of Occupy Wall Street crowd favored Wall Street bailout
Global warming or a new ice age? Anyone who claims to know is lying
Another Obama-favored solar firm crashes — after $535 million loan
