I saw a Facebook meme from a friend a few days ago. It said, “we should not encourage our children to live extraordinary lives.” The picture showed two young people relaxing in the breeze enjoying an apple in a beautiful environment.
Sure, this is a noble philosophy. Life is best served with a topping of beauty and peace. And absolutely: no one should encourage their children to live extraordinary lives or do extraordinary things. That, however, should be a choice. And if the child makes that decision or life pushes him or her in that direction, then so be it.
But one more thing can be inferred from this post: the poster most likely had a good life, was afforded a normal or good upbringing, and given the necessities that should be provided to all children to develop in life. This isn’t the case with all children, or even the vast majority of children. Many parents fail somewhat, and some fail miserably.
Children on whose back was cast the weight of human evolution, who were denied of basic necessities at some point or the other, who were failed, let down, or even abused, feel compelled or fire up to push themselves to the max to make a positive contribution to the world. Their hearts throb for suffering humanity because they themselves had a taste of it. And this pushes them to become extraordinary, and to live extraordinary lives.
This is not to say that “normal” children don’t feel for others or contribute to the development of the world. They do. And not all children who suffered neglect rise to the occasion, but it is a general rule that greatness was forged through lack and the desire to make the world a better a place.