Because we are nothing special – on a par with ants and daffodils – it is the work of culture to make us feel special; just as parents need to make their children feel special to help them bear and bear with – and hopefully enjoy – their insignificance in the larger scheme of things. In this sense growing up is always an undoing of what needed to be done; first, ideally, we are made to feel special, then we are expected to enjoy a world in which we are not.
Culture makes us feel special.
