Everybody Loves Being Recognized

Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of
recognition.

-Abraham Lincoln

As a writer, I find it hard to sit in front of a computer and type what comes into my head, because half the time most of my pages end up in the virtual recycling bin (which I recently had to clear out because it had filled to capacity). I used to think it was because I wasn't inspired. Then I thought that it was because I wasn't a good writer. Then it recently came to me that it was because no one was reading it.

Well, to solve that problem, I went and started a blog. But my recognition by others remains a problem.

The animated show Family Guy, as crude as it can be, once featured a short clip that parodied the many writers who sit with their laptops at Starbucks to write. The pun was pretty short, but entertaining all the same:

First Writer: Writing has no point unless other people are watching me.

Second Writer: You should totally write that down!

First Writer: Okay! Will you watch me?

I personally called it a "story of my life" moment, mostly because I'm not a very modest person. I like my hard work to be recognized by other people, and I can get slightly envious when others are recognized ahead of me. It is very frustrating in life when another person is noticed and we are not. Maybe your mother-in-law prefers the other daughter-in-law over you, even though you're the one who is constantly putting up with the mother in law's (excuse me) crap. Maybe your boss frequently recognizes or favors another employee who, you know, spends most of their time twiddling their thumbs and going on facebook while you sit in your cubicle working with your nose pressed up against the papers all day. Maybe you didn't get to be the employee of the month when you know for sure that you worked 200% harder than that other guy.

Well, for aspiring writers, we can have a hard time getting recognition. It used to make my blood boil when another student was dubbed "the best writer in our English class" as I sat in the back digging my pencil into my desk with fury. We're writers. We write. We don't get on a screen and entertain people usually. We're not in the spotlight. So it's hard to even be recognized, and it's hard when you want to be recognized but know that the slacker next to you is probably more likely to be than you. It's frustrating sitting in your room, knowing how capable you are of writing the next big thing, when Stephenie Meyer of the Twilight series is making money and getting book interviews.

Or maybe it's not frustrating. It depends on what kind of person you are.

I'm the kind of person who observes a lot of unfairness in recognition. We recognize the student with the highest grades, but what about the student with the most contribution to the class? the strongest desire to learn? We recognize the most efficient employee of the month, but what about the worker who truly and deeply enjoy what they're doing, day in and day out? who takes agonizing time on each customer or patient just to satisfy everything they need?

Well, that's life. My mother tells me all the time: "You can be mad or jealous at anyone in the world, and if you are, they don't know. And if they know, they don't care." I keep telling myself that she's right. Recognition is never fair, and the wrong person is almost always recognized by everyone else. But getting angry at them only makes you the bad guy. What if that disgruntled, hardworking employee walked into the manager's office and went berserk about the unfairness he believed he witness? What kind of consequences would there be?

We can look at President Lincoln. In his time, he wasn't considered one of our greatest presidents yet. He wasn't exactly recognized. But he did fullfill his own words, striving to become worthy enough of recognition.

Well, I think he's a pretty recognized figure now.