This entry formulated in my head as I attended my daughter’s high school graduation. In the speeches by the principal, students, and others, several times they alluded to this high school being “the best high school in the nation.” In addition, there was high emphasis on individual success, on this class being the best yet,” “making their mark,” being leaders, etc. In talking about their children, parents usually focus on their achievements (grades, club leadership, athletic achievements). Children are steeped in this sort of emphasis from the day they are born.
As I reflected on this, it hit me how much uniqueness is a high value in our culture. Uniqueness is a prerequisite for meaning – and not just uniqueness, but uniqueness in comparison with anyone else. This brand of uniqueness is expressed in the language of superlatives. I have to be that leader, my organization or group is the best, I have to make the most impact. The unstated corollary is that my uniqueness is defined with respect to how I measure up to other people. One who cannot lay claim to this understanding of uniqueness is considered a loser. Perhaps having lived in another culture has made me more acutely aware of this trait in my own culture. I’m not ready to judge this as a fully evil trait - it could well be that it is the driver of some of our culture's economic and political strength. But how does it impact our understanding of the basis of our value as humans?
I often hear the same type of talk in the churches and in missions. I can’t help but wonder how it might blind us to the real implications of servanthood and of dying to self that are the Kingdom values Jesus hammers on in the Scriptures. Our value comes in our relationship to God; our meaning is found in Him – not in attending the greatest school in the country, or living in the strongest nation in the world, attending the church with the best worship anywhere, or sending the most missionaries. It’s hard to hear the Biblical command to “die to self” when self is constantly being propped up with the myth of uniqueness.
So I am very proud of my daughter in her graduation, but I’m thinking perhaps my focus should be more on the character that she has developed than on grades and achievements or on whether or not her school was indeed, the best high school in the nation.
As I reflected on this, it hit me how much uniqueness is a high value in our culture. Uniqueness is a prerequisite for meaning – and not just uniqueness, but uniqueness in comparison with anyone else. This brand of uniqueness is expressed in the language of superlatives. I have to be that leader, my organization or group is the best, I have to make the most impact. The unstated corollary is that my uniqueness is defined with respect to how I measure up to other people. One who cannot lay claim to this understanding of uniqueness is considered a loser. Perhaps having lived in another culture has made me more acutely aware of this trait in my own culture. I’m not ready to judge this as a fully evil trait - it could well be that it is the driver of some of our culture's economic and political strength. But how does it impact our understanding of the basis of our value as humans?
I often hear the same type of talk in the churches and in missions. I can’t help but wonder how it might blind us to the real implications of servanthood and of dying to self that are the Kingdom values Jesus hammers on in the Scriptures. Our value comes in our relationship to God; our meaning is found in Him – not in attending the greatest school in the country, or living in the strongest nation in the world, attending the church with the best worship anywhere, or sending the most missionaries. It’s hard to hear the Biblical command to “die to self” when self is constantly being propped up with the myth of uniqueness.
So I am very proud of my daughter in her graduation, but I’m thinking perhaps my focus should be more on the character that she has developed than on grades and achievements or on whether or not her school was indeed, the best high school in the nation.
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