expectations

Last night I watched the documentary art&copy.  The film explored the world of advertising and it's effect on culture.  One statistic presented was “About 80% of the world’s advertising is done by 4 global holding companies.”   Immediately I recalled a very similar statistic being presented about the beer industry in another documentary I watched last month.  It has occurred to me in recent months that in nearly all industries/ walks of life a very small percentage of people do the majority of the work AND receive the majority of the recognition, praise, awards, attention, etc.

A very small few of people in the world get known for what they do.  They’re are hundreds of BLANK, so how bold/ unafraid/ arrogant(?) must you be to think you can be one of the few who people recognize, or dare to be the best?

I feel that growing up in America we were taught to dream big, and believe we could do anything, or be anything. 

Last night when I finished the movie I went downstairs to find Husby home with our Danish friend.  I relayed some of the above thoughts to them.  Our Danish friend said he did not have the same expectations for life, because he received a different message growing up in Denmark.  They were presented a very realist view of life.  Husband exclaimed (in reference to a conversation we had a couple weeks ago), “That’s why Denmark is the happiest country in the world!”

See, recently I read in a book that Denmark has the happiest people on Earth.  Some supposed that the reason the Danes were happier then the American’s (it was a story done by American’s) was that Danes had a more realistic expectation of life.  American’s had their expectations set too high and were thus doomed to live a disappointed life.

But what would America look like if we were to lower our expectations?  Would we indeed be happier?  Would we be less prosperous, or more prosperous?  Would we be so obsessed with fame and celebrity?  Where do these expectations come from in the first place?

Somehow interwoven into this thought comes THE INTERNET.  I've thought a lot recently about the internet and it's manufactured personal connections, and it's allusions of success and fame. 

I suppose the internet and all its mysteries is a topic for another day.

Until then.

I love you.