Word of the Week #192:
Are some people better than others?
“He/she could do so much better…”
“How on Earth did he/she land someone like that!”
“He/she is just not good enough for you…”
How often have we heard these words? How often have we said them ourselves?
It is probably a natural thing to say, I suppose, considering:
I’m at that age where scores of my acquaintances are getting engaged or married every passing weekHow pervasive arranged marriages are in my geographical vicinityI actually said all three of those over the past weekendHowever, the question remains… Are some people better than others?
If we really thought about it, we would conclude that humans are—obviously—too complex to be assigned a single, objective rating, right?
What if we considered something simpler? Something inanimate?
Can we rate different tools in terms of their utility? Are hammers better than crowbars? Pliers over screwdrivers?
The answer would probably depend on whom you ask when. Sure, power drills are useful—and objectively cool—but one would not really use them to fit a new sink, right?
I suppose the same could be true of humans, right? The person I want on my basketball team might not be the one I want on my publicity team. The person I want as a business partner might not be the one I want as a romantic partner.
And, in hindsight, if someone ever questioned my choice of mate, I might be tempted to bash their skull in with a crowbar. Just saying.
