To Be Ordinary
6/9/2025In a world obsessed with becoming an exception, perhaps the bravest thing to do is to be okay with being average. As fellow Indian kids, we grow up hearing tales of the impish backbenchers and the applauded frontbenchers. But the students in the middle benches– the quiet observers of classroom life– are forgotten. Overlooked in PTMs, gradually fading from memory, their stories are rarely told.
We grow up idolising the toppers, the JEE exam rankers, the CEOs, the extraordinary, but what about the ordinary? Even the word, ordinary, is typically spoken with a hint of disappointment. We must ask ourselves, why are we so afraid of the ordinary? Why is being ordinary condemned when it is the most honest reflection of the human condition?
In today’s world, especially late-stage capitalism, success is measured by how exceptional you can appear, how fast you climb, how much you earn, or how productive you are. The humble 9-to-5 job, once seen as a sign of stability, is now mocked as mediocrity. Hustle culture tells us that unless we’re constantly improving, monetizing, or outperforming, we’re wasting our lives. This mindset could date back to the colonial period, where values were domination and conquest and from a philosophy that forgot to ask what a good life feels like. As Mignolo writes, the logic of coloniality—masked under the rhetoric of progress and development—replaced the ethical ways of living with a system of control and comparison.[1]
What society now sells as success is a culmination of its biggest insecurities. Being average, steady, reliable, and present is not a failure. It is the quiet foundation of every society, every community, and every family. We remember the greats of history, from Julius Caesar to Chandragupta, but we forget it was those ordinary ones who made those empires breathe. They paved the roads, carved the temples, whispered prayers, and passed down stories that became culture. They are the reason we have history at all. The world does not move forward only because of the greats and conquerors; it moves because of the millions of hands quietly doing their work every single day.
Pieter Brueghel the Elder - The Dutch Proverbs
Today, the average person still carries the same legacy. Society is built on the labour of the ordinary. From the nurse who holds a trembling hand in the ICU to the teacher in a dusty classroom educating an entire generation, and to the clerk in the bank who stamps your passbook, they may not be in the headlines, but their impact is immeasurable. They are not simple cogs in the machine; they are more than that, they are human, and to be human is an extraordinary feat in itself.
Amidst the hullabaloo of making an exception of yourself, we have drifted far away from the ethereality of life. To be the average person means you have the time and presence to truly see the world— to feel the wind, the grass between your toes, water on your skin , the laughter that catches unexpectedly in your throat. It is to truly test the limits of human feeling; to simply be here and alive. Is that not a feat in itself? Have we strayed so far away from being human, that to be good at it, we must forgo the very things that make life extraordinary? It is the fact that we might not experience life again, that makes it all so special.
Adamgreattweet on X
Perhaps, the real rebellion is not to stand out but to stand firm; to live gently, to love sincerely, to show up again and again. Not chasing greatness but to live with grace.
It is time to reclaim the word average, to not let it be a limitation but a sense of pride. It is a badge of honor; because in a world that is so desperate to be seen, the ones who can sit in stillness are the ones who are truly alive.
What if greatness was never meant to be loud? Maybe it is listening without waiting to speak, to give a shoulder to cry on, to forgive without applause, raising a child with quiet patience, or to say thank you and please? Maybe it is the friend who stays during the worst of times, the co-worker who remembers birthdays, the neighbour who waters the plants while you are away. They are the soft architecture that houses the functioning of society.
We often speak of legacies— the names etched in marble or typed in textbooks. But there is a subtle kind of legacy, one not built on the spotlight but on steadfastness. A legacy passed down through shared meals, bedtime stories, warm shoulders, and hands held in silence. These are the acts that hold humanity together.
To be average is to not lack ambition, but to have courage to define success on your own terms. It is to choose presence over performance, connection over comparison and heart over hustle. This is not a rejection of greatness but a refusal to overlook the silent acts that sustain the world. We can celebrate Alexander the Great all we want, but spare a moment to celebrate the thousands of pairs of unnamed feet that marched beside him, quietly shaping history alongside their leader.
So, when Mary Oliver asks “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"--- perhaps the answer is to simply live it fully, quietly, deeply, with enough tenderness that it matters— even if only to yourself.
And maybe, that is more than enough.
Edward Hopper, The Nighthawks
Sources:
[1] Mignolo, W. (2018). Coloniality: The Darker Side of Western Modernity. Durham: Duke University Press
We grow up idolising the toppers, the JEE exam rankers, the CEOs, the extraordinary, but what about the ordinary? Even the word, ordinary, is typically spoken with a hint of disappointment. We must ask ourselves, why are we so afraid of the ordinary? Why is being ordinary condemned when it is the most honest reflection of the human condition?
In today’s world, especially late-stage capitalism, success is measured by how exceptional you can appear, how fast you climb, how much you earn, or how productive you are. The humble 9-to-5 job, once seen as a sign of stability, is now mocked as mediocrity. Hustle culture tells us that unless we’re constantly improving, monetizing, or outperforming, we’re wasting our lives. This mindset could date back to the colonial period, where values were domination and conquest and from a philosophy that forgot to ask what a good life feels like. As Mignolo writes, the logic of coloniality—masked under the rhetoric of progress and development—replaced the ethical ways of living with a system of control and comparison.[1]
What society now sells as success is a culmination of its biggest insecurities. Being average, steady, reliable, and present is not a failure. It is the quiet foundation of every society, every community, and every family. We remember the greats of history, from Julius Caesar to Chandragupta, but we forget it was those ordinary ones who made those empires breathe. They paved the roads, carved the temples, whispered prayers, and passed down stories that became culture. They are the reason we have history at all. The world does not move forward only because of the greats and conquerors; it moves because of the millions of hands quietly doing their work every single day.
Pieter Brueghel the Elder - The Dutch Proverbs
Today, the average person still carries the same legacy. Society is built on the labour of the ordinary. From the nurse who holds a trembling hand in the ICU to the teacher in a dusty classroom educating an entire generation, and to the clerk in the bank who stamps your passbook, they may not be in the headlines, but their impact is immeasurable. They are not simple cogs in the machine; they are more than that, they are human, and to be human is an extraordinary feat in itself.
Amidst the hullabaloo of making an exception of yourself, we have drifted far away from the ethereality of life. To be the average person means you have the time and presence to truly see the world— to feel the wind, the grass between your toes, water on your skin , the laughter that catches unexpectedly in your throat. It is to truly test the limits of human feeling; to simply be here and alive. Is that not a feat in itself? Have we strayed so far away from being human, that to be good at it, we must forgo the very things that make life extraordinary? It is the fact that we might not experience life again, that makes it all so special.
Adamgreattweet on X
Perhaps, the real rebellion is not to stand out but to stand firm; to live gently, to love sincerely, to show up again and again. Not chasing greatness but to live with grace.
It is time to reclaim the word average, to not let it be a limitation but a sense of pride. It is a badge of honor; because in a world that is so desperate to be seen, the ones who can sit in stillness are the ones who are truly alive.
What if greatness was never meant to be loud? Maybe it is listening without waiting to speak, to give a shoulder to cry on, to forgive without applause, raising a child with quiet patience, or to say thank you and please? Maybe it is the friend who stays during the worst of times, the co-worker who remembers birthdays, the neighbour who waters the plants while you are away. They are the soft architecture that houses the functioning of society.
We often speak of legacies— the names etched in marble or typed in textbooks. But there is a subtle kind of legacy, one not built on the spotlight but on steadfastness. A legacy passed down through shared meals, bedtime stories, warm shoulders, and hands held in silence. These are the acts that hold humanity together.
To be average is to not lack ambition, but to have courage to define success on your own terms. It is to choose presence over performance, connection over comparison and heart over hustle. This is not a rejection of greatness but a refusal to overlook the silent acts that sustain the world. We can celebrate Alexander the Great all we want, but spare a moment to celebrate the thousands of pairs of unnamed feet that marched beside him, quietly shaping history alongside their leader.
So, when Mary Oliver asks “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"--- perhaps the answer is to simply live it fully, quietly, deeply, with enough tenderness that it matters— even if only to yourself.
And maybe, that is more than enough.
Edward Hopper, The Nighthawks
Sources:
[1] Mignolo, W. (2018). Coloniality: The Darker Side of Western Modernity. Durham: Duke University Press
Authors:
Editors:
Misha
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