Quote:
Originally Posted by Reckoner
... the heart of the matter here is that someone has a gift to do something. People would die to have that gift. People around her will rightfully feel indignant. They would feel cheated by life here, and it's a very natural reaction.
|
You have to consider why people covet talents they don't have in the first place. It's not generally because they have a passion to make the world a better place and their lack of talent really prevents them from doing so. It's because they think, if only I had that natural talent I could be: happier, more successful, more appreciated, more loved (etc.)... and I wouldn't have to work so hard at life because I'd be "naturally good". It's like winning the lottery; they assume that having that talent will fill some hole in their life and raise them out of their misery. So they want to see people with talent be successful and meet their expectations because they can live vicariously through them. And even as they may be a fan of that person, they often don't really care about them
as a person -- they care about them as a sort of aspirational idol. And this is why, when that idol fails to live up to their expectations (because all humans fall, and the higher the pedestal the harder the fall), they get really upset/indignant -- because it reminds them of their own failings, and brings out the dark side of coveting: bitterness and jealousy.
This may all be a "very natural reaction", but it's fundamentally unhealthy because it prevents people from doing the things they can do in the place where they are to make their world and The World a better place.
Rather than focus on what's good for Mashiro, perhaps we should really be talking about what's good for Rita. Perhaps she should pull the plank out of her own eye first.