#individuality — Public Fediverse posts

The individual is the "atomic unit" of #morality. Sort of like the atom is to chemistry. From a moral standpoint, the level of the individual is really where all the action is. The best place to find it, to exercise it, to appreciate it, and to improve it. Each instance in its own (possibly unique) way.

A corollary: we should exercise caution whenever joining or supporting groups or collectives. Since all but the most courageous of them will want our morals always to closely match theirs in order for our contributions to be optimized. Or perhaps even noticed.

#individuality
#tribalism

Comparison and Contrast

Comparison is dumb.

There will always be someone
smarter,
prettier,
richer,
funnier,
more talented,
more articulate,
more successful,
more spiritual,
more emotionally aware—

and someone
poorer,
uglier,
clumsier,
more confused,
and dumber than you.

So what?

Look up long enough, and you’ll feel inferior.
Look down long enough, and you’ll feel superior.

Both are lies.

Another person’s brilliance does not diminish yours.
Their beauty does not make you ugly.
Their success does not make you a failure.

There is no human scoreboard.

You are not here to outrank everyone else.

You are here to become yourself.

December 26, 2011, edited and expanded August 2026

Comparison and Contrast

Comparison is dumb.

There will always be someone
smarter,
prettier,
richer,
funnier,
more talented,
more articulate,
more successful,
more spiritual,
more emotionally aware—

and someone
poorer,
uglier,
clumsier,
more confused,
and dumber than you.

So what?

Look up long enough, and you’ll feel inferior.
Look down long enough, and you’ll feel superior.

Both are lies.

Another person’s brilliance does not diminish yours.
Their beauty does not make you ugly.
Their success does not make you a failure.

There is no human scoreboard.

You are not here to outrank everyone else.

You are here to become yourself.

December 26, 2011, edited and expanded August 2026

Comparison and Contrast

Comparison is dumb.

There will always be someone
smarter,
prettier,
richer,
funnier,
more talented,
more articulate,
more successful,
more spiritual,
more emotionally aware—

and someone
poorer,
uglier,
clumsier,
more confused,
and dumber than you.

So what?

Look up long enough, and you’ll feel inferior.
Look down long enough, and you’ll feel superior.

Both are lies.

Another person’s brilliance does not diminish yours.
Their beauty does not make you ugly.
Their success does not make you a failure.

There is no human scoreboard.

You are not here to outrank everyone else.

You are here to become yourself.

December 26, 2011, edited and expanded August 2026

Comparison and Contrast

Comparison is dumb.

There will always be someone
smarter,
prettier,
richer,
funnier,
more talented,
more articulate,
more successful,
more spiritual,
more emotionally aware—

and someone
poorer,
uglier,
clumsier,
more confused,
and dumber than you.

So what?

Look up long enough, and you’ll feel inferior.
Look down long enough, and you’ll feel superior.

Both are lies.

Another person’s brilliance does not diminish yours.
Their beauty does not make you ugly.
Their success does not make you a failure.

There is no human scoreboard.

You are not here to outrank everyone else.

You are here to become yourself.

December 26, 2011, edited and expanded August 2026

Comparison and Contrast

Comparison is dumb.

There will always be someone
smarter,
prettier,
richer,
funnier,
more talented,
more articulate,
more successful,
more spiritual,
more emotionally aware—

and someone
poorer,
uglier,
clumsier,
more confused,
and dumber than you.

So what?

Look up long enough, and you’ll feel inferior.
Look down long enough, and you’ll feel superior.

Both are lies.

Another person’s brilliance does not diminish yours.
Their beauty does not make you ugly.
Their success does not make you a failure.

There is no human scoreboard.

You are not here to outrank everyone else.

You are here to become yourself.

December 26, 2011, edited and expanded August 2026

A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt

In addition to, not as a substitute for, individual responsibility, there is a collective responsibility.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Autobiography, ch. 1 “Boyhood and Youth” (1913)

More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/8…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #teddyroosevelt #theodoreroosevelt #collective #individual #individuality #mutualresponsibility #personalresponsibility #responsibility #togetherness #socialcontract

A quotation from Theodore Roosevelt

[… T]he individual virtues, and the necessity of character as the chief factor in any man’s success — a teaching in which I now believe as sincerely as ever, for all the laws that the wit of man can devise will never make a man a worthy citizen unless he has within himself the right stuff, unless he has self-reliance, energy, courage, the power of insisting on his own rights and the sympathy that makes him regardful of the rights of others.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Autobiography, ch. 1 “Boyhood and Youth” (1913)

More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/8…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #theodoreroosevelt #teddyroosevelt #character #citizen #courage #individuality #moralcode #personalcode #personalresponsibility #rights #selfreliance #success #virtue #worthiness

Comparison and Contrast

Comparison is dumb.

There will always be someone
smarter,
prettier,
richer,
funnier,
more talented,
more articulate,
more successful,
more spiritual,
more emotionally aware—

and someone
poorer,
uglier,
clumsier,
more confused,
and dumber than you.

So what?

Look up long enough and you’ll feel inferior.
Look down long enough and you’ll feel superior.

Both are lies.

Another person’s brilliance does not diminish yours.
Their beauty does not make you ugly.
Their success does not make you a failure.

There is no human scoreboard.

You are not here to outrank everyone else.

You are here to become yourself.

December 26, 2011, edited and expanded August 2026