There is one concept I can guarantee we all struggle with at one point in our lives: comparison. We compare ourselves to models, celebrities, athletes, billionaires, and even people whom we claim to be more successful than ourselves. We are constantly pondering, “What would it be like to be them, imagine how much easier/better my life would be." I am frequently questioning this myself, whether in a grocery store, a mall, my college, or simply on a walk outside. It is challenging to rid this feeling of jealousy and to repel our tendency to compare ourselves to another. Therefore, I decided to compare a pen and a pencil. I needed a new perspective. We all could use a new perspective.
Simple, I think. They both embrace the opportunity for us to write our feelings, thoughts, knowledge, and etc. So, essentially, they hold quite a similar purpose. They were put into our world to create a story, an argument, to test our ability to answer a question on paper.
So here I am, comparing a pen and pencil, only to realize their purposes may be one of the same, though the attributes they hold, are wildly different. The pencil allows us to erase our mistakes, creates a wonderful clean paper with the touch of a small pink protrusion at the end of the mustard colored wood, a great quality. The pen, although not erasable, can look more professional, more permanent, more convincing, an important feature when entering the business world.
Both a pencil and pen can come in all different shapes and sizes, neither one better than the other, their eminence can only be based on opinion. For me, I choose BIC pens, they’re simple, easy to use, and in my opinion, force my handwriting to look slightly less like that of a 3rd graders on a sugar high. When it comes to pencils, I choose number 2 Office Depot, although my closest friend only chooses a blue mechanical pencil. Both the number 2 pencil and mechanical pencil hold the same purpose, though look different and can be used in different ways.
Now picture yourself as a pencil and the girl you couldn’t help but stare it on line next to you yesterday as a pen. You hold the same purpose, you are a human being, put on earth to establish relationships, expand the world’s knowledge, love the people around you, create memories that will live on and etc. You may look slightly different, made in different areas. Maybe she descends from Argentina, and you descend from America, you are not meant to look the same, you are not meant to hold the same attributes, you hold separate qualities, qualities she may hate, and he may love. There is no right way to look, right way to be, you cannot compare a pen and a pencil in more ways than their ability to write down ones thoughts, the same way you cannot compare one being to another.
We encompass different characteristics, ones that make us great, and ones that we work to improve. How can we compare ourselves to another person if they were made in Staples and you were made in Office Max? How can we compare ourselves to another person if they have an eraser, but you are permanent? We are one of the same, yet comprise a mixed sets of qualities not one other person has identical to.
So next time you are in the store, admire the woman next to you for her quality to multitask speaking on the phone and calculating her change, admire the way her curves layer her body even if you wish you could say the same for yourself. Who knows, she may be wishing her teeth shone just as white as yours. Comparison is the thief of joy. Always remember, a blue mechanical pencil is no better than a mustard number 2 pencil, only different.
