Rotary
Moment of Reflection
You are more
complicated than you know
Kim Brand
December 3,
2019
(redacted due to time constraints)
I’m reading
a great book titled The End of Average. It’s made me think of all the ways we measure
ourselves and other people by someone else’s yardstick. The book explains
that some measures are possible, like height & weight for example. But most
are impossible like heart and character.
We have
become a number for the convenience of computers: Age, Credit Score, GPA, zip
code. The problem is when we believe that those numbers tell the whole story – especially
when we believe them about ourselves.
You may not
know that the concept of average is a fairly recent invention. Lots of smart
people with high IQs measured lots of physical and personality traits and then
summarized their findings using new math – they invented averages. It’s called averagarianism.
Being
average was once considered the pinnacle of evolution because nature surely intended
for average to be the target. Being average was cool!
In 1943 a
doctor sculpted a statue of the average woman, named Norma. They launched
a contest to find any woman matching her dimensions. Nearly 4000 contestants
applied, none was average.
Later, the
distance from average – above and below – was studied. Depending on the scale, either
could be more or less desirable. Consider a golf score vs IQ – I’d be happy to
hit 100 on either one!
Within the
last couple generations it was believed that if you were good at anything you’d
probably be good at everything. That’s why high SAT scores and GPAs used to get
you into any school. Microsoft and Google don’t care about SATs or GPAs anymore,
they don’t even care so much if you graduated. Now they care about what you’ve
done and what YOU care about.
Maybe you’ve
been measured by the Myers Briggs personality test. ENTP or ISFJ or
whatever. The End of Average claims this is psychological mumbo jumbo.
Researchers found that context is critical. Were you measured in family
situations, work settings or social environments? It matters a lot.
People are just more complicated than the combination of four letters would
predict. (That would be 16 types by the way – I got an above average score in
combinations & permutations!)
The truth is
that our personalities, potentials and physical and mental abilities – and
those of everyone you know – are just too complicated for averages - or - to be
able to judge a person by his or her type – otherwise known as prejudice.
I’m making
this little book report today to encourage you to celebrate the end of averagarianism.
Stop comparing yourself to anybody else.
Russeau said “I may be no better but
at least I am different!’ Be a little easier on yourself and more tolerant of
everyone. There’s more to our human stories than you can measure.
And finally:
You are not average . . . I can prove it!
