Think that many people growing up are raised to think of their lives in superlatives. The cure for cancer, the selfless hero, the great and kind leader, the richest man or woman, the great athlete. Raised and inundated with those ideals, in movies, books we read, games we play, in the media we have been exposed to.
Everyone looks to some sort of hero or genius. When I was your age, I wanted to be a great scientist, dancer, singer, artist or Mother Theresa, at various times. Very few people attain those 'best' goals in life and many who do, work in the background, and are never recognized. It's an ideal only, like the greek ideal of perfection that still inundates many cultures:
Paideia - Wikipedia It's a constant theme that we are often unaware of. To do our very best, it's for the 'greater good' and for all of humanity. Yet, people rarely think about what's best for humanity, I can't presume to know what that might be. My father thought he knew, as his generation fought wars. He was raised to believe that he owed the community/country a service. His mindset was related to the good and often unheralded work that he thought was ethical and right.
Yet, in some ways its also an ideal created by what was essentially a ruling class to stand apart from the rest of the population. So that they could be seen as better than others, more capable and better able to rule or lead people. It creates in us an ambition/desire to be apart, individual, intelligent, capable, respected. Which might be a function of ego and insecurity and/or simple human nature and the desire to be treated with respect.
So much of this in the realm of accomplishments, is relative to where we are in life. What we think we want, as we develop and learn what's important to us along the way. In the making and creation of our individual lives, we decide what's important to us eventually. Life should not be about what others think it should be, but more about what gives us personal satisfaction, happiness, and challenges and interests us.
