Mozart, mensa, and mediocrity

I am the most mediocre person (eh.. the "most" mediocre? the "middlest"? yeah, it exists). But wait wait, before you get all worried, it's a.o.k. Pahaha it's a-okay - I'm not writing a whiny post about how sad and "just okay" at everything I am. I am pretty "just okay" at everything, that part's true, but it's not necessarily sad or whiny, so hold on.

I guess (hope) everyone goes through childhood always being told that they are, simply thinking and accepting that they are, believing that they are, indeed being (!) special. I was. Enough, at least - like, a moderate/normal amount. Enough that I didn't end up with  either an inferiority or a superiority complex (whew &hurrah).

But then you reach a certain point of being a bigger person, bigger than a small kid, when you realize that you are pretty average. Right? Except for a few special individuals who are really gifted, like Olympic contestants and best-selling novelists (though a lot of times, even those people are told they're no good at what they do, by editors, publishers...), and like, Mozart and MENSA geniuses and master bakers or something.

Mmmm...geniuses

Anyway, so unless you fall into those categories mentioned above, you are a pretty average, normal person - and you eventually realize your normalcy. And it's not all about you necessarily "not being exceptional" at something, either, because everyone's relative worlds are always changing - as we learn to grow and deal with harder and harder things, the bar set to define excellence is jumping higher and higher. Being great at Pee Wee soccer (this is real; you can even coach it!) doesn't mean you're going to be a star player in the World Cup someday. Being an awesome artiiiiste in middle school (or even high school. gasp.) doesn't mean you will be the next Picasso. Just thinking about the difference between high school and college sports teams makes this clear.

But this isn't a sad thing. Mediocrity, as a whole, is not a sad thing. Here's why this post isn't a wehr-wehr kind of a post:

1. Mediocrity is full of hope. Because you're in the middle of the awesome-terrible scale, you can always move to either end - which way you go, or even staying in the same place, is at least partially dependent on you. How empowering is that?
2. Mediocrity gives you a choice. It's either glass half-full or half-empty. You don't have to be gung-ho about it if you don't feel like it.
3. Mediocrity in shoe size means you usually have the biggest variety of shoes to choose from. Ask anyone with size 5 feet. Or size 13. Or...both. That would really suck.
4. Mediocrity is necessary - we don't really get a say in whether it should even exist or not, cause what kind of awesome-terrible scale doesn't have a middle? That wouldn't even be a valid scale, at all - like even less valid than just being a random made-up thing in this little person's little blog post. 

Big/tiny feet are difficult to accommodate, you know.

P.S. I love geniuses. Of the musical variety and the sensitive sweater variety and the expertise in Mario Kart-playing variety. AHHH