Stripping away any context, no one is fundamentally better than anyone else. It’s one thing for people to have greater ability or performance, but another to think that one human is inherently better or worse than another no matter what.
I think this is a common gap between my world view and mot other people. Most people do hold a sincere personal belief that some people are fundamentally better than other people… whether because of their career or upbringing or ethnic background or who they vote for or what media they consume or what.
Some of this is rooted in religious belief (which fundamentally teaches that some people are inherently blessed and some inherently cursed). But the belief of some being fundamentally better than others is largely a fundamental human flaw. None of us are equal, but we all are human, and we all are capable of improvement. What we become may be somewhat influenced by our background and environment, but it’s largely based on our actions.
Thus you are also not fundamentally worse than anyone else. You are capable of improving if you want to. There are always limits to what exactly you can do and how, but regardless of your past you are capable right now of doing better and being better.
I generally avoid people who think some people are fundamentally better or worse than others. For anyone I cannot avoid, I proceed with caution. As long as someone has this limiting belief, it does compromise how much I can trust their judgment.
By most people’s definitions, I:
– Should not have survived infancy
– Should not have graduated high school
– Should not have gone to college
– Should not be intelligent
– Should not have ever been able to perform or dance on stage in any capacity
– Should have never become an endurance runner
– Should be diseased and probably dead
And it doesn’t matter at all what I have done or can demonstrably do.
But I’ve clearly defied all of the above, because I like everyone else am the product of my actions. And so are you.