Monday, September 03, 2007

Rivals



A few weeks back I mentioned how my college paper cartoon ran next to one done by someone who became a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist. Me? I sold a cartoon to Bird Talk magazine once.

This weekend I was eating out with my folks when, up on the T.V. screen, I see an old childhood pal playing professional beach volleyboll. I look her up and sure enough, she's rolling in the dough, earning medals left and right, including an olympics medal. Me? I won a blue ribbon at the orange county fair when I was a kid. Some kind of drawing contest. I was the only one in my age group who entered.

The trick is who I compare myself too. When I compare myself to contemporaries who got famous I feel like a loser. When I compare myself to contemporaries who dropped out of school, live in their parents' garage and work the fry basket, I feel better

3 comments:

GhostBuild said...

Its all relative right? Grass is always greener on the other side, cliche but true.

You don't know your volleyball friend's personal situation though, do you? For all you know, she's got a steroid habit or a bad marriage. Or maybe she can't go out in public to go shopping without being harassed by fanboys or drooling psychos.

Nevertheless, I can relate to what you mean, I guess it depends on what you consider as a personal criteria to evaluate yourself as successful. I recall somebody from my graduating class... 10 years after high school I come to find out he became a "legal" arms supplier to South American police precincts and military (Creeeeeeepy!) Maybe he's making good money, better money than I, but wow, I'd never want to sell guns to anybody, even if the customer is a legitimate police force.

I recall thinking about whether I've been squandering my time, and not achieving more. One day while pondering the idea I happened to be grovery shopping and noticed a coupld of people older than me stocking a shelf. It occurred to me that they gladly switch with me if they had the opportunity given how different the paycheck would likely be (I work with computer networks).

Sally said...

Just about every cartoonist except maybe R. Crumb has endured the seemingly eternal rejection. Enjoy creating: you're very talented.

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

"Relative" is the word, Ghostbuild. I read of a study where they surveyed people who had won bronze and silver Olympic medals. The bronze winners were actually happier than the silver winners because they compared themselves to people who won nothing, while the silver winners tended to compare themselves to the gold winners.
Thanks for the encouragement, Sally. I really appreciate it. :)