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Best & Brightest vs. Loud & Weirdest

My local newspaper recently published a piece on graduating high school seniors that were dubbed "The Best and Brightest".  I'm guessing that means they were high achievers in school and are now off to college on well-achieved scholarship.


I know because once upon a time, I was one of them.


And I keep wondering what happens to the Best & Brightest of the world out there?  Do they become President?  Entrepreneurs?  Famous or maybe infamous?


We live in a time now in which some of our greatest minds are known for dropping out of college.  Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg both come to mind.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are scads of famous people that you didn't know were super smart.  Cindy Crawford was her high school valedictorian and so was Chevy Chase.


Do these labels mark us for life?  Or do they give us something to rise against, up to or above for the rest of it? 


My dad dropped out of high school, became a married teen father, later earned a GED and then a contractor's license and is now one of the most financially and personally successful men I know. 


I went to college as a highly decorated graduate, finished in four years cum laude, have had numerous jobs, am barely financially viable and still feel like I'm trying to "find" myself in my forties.


Who's the success story here?


The question is, what are these labels worth?  Do you even remember who the Valedictorian of your class was?  Who was voted Most Likely to Succeed?  And if you kept up with your high school buddies (beyond what they lie about on Fakebook, that is) did they really succeed?  And, further, who decides that? 


I was glad to get those accolades back in school, but in my older wisdom I see now how little they were worth.  I think striving for all that perfection made me give up some parts of me that I wish I had explored back when I was younger.  I wish I had been a little braver.  A little more adventurous.  I remember a friend joking when he saw me walking to the library during the first weekend we were back on campus during my sophomore year.  Did I really need to study that much? 


It took me years to figure out that I was weird and that was okay.  Imagine if I had embraced it back then?  I think I would have campaigned for the Best Daydreamer or Most Likely to Want to Learn to Read Tarot.


I'm not saying ambition and drive aren't good things.  If we all didn't at least have a little we wouldn't even own a pair of socks.  But is it all that necessary to be in a constant break-neck pace to be the Best & Brightest?  Especially while we're still so Young & Naive?  And isn't it possible to be both Successful & Relaxed?  Or maybe Well-Adjusted & Tempered? 


I'm not sure.  I will say that it seems to be a work in progress for me.  I wasn't named any of those Senior Superlatives.  These days I don't even think I'd get Best in Show.  But I am happier than I've ever been.  And rewards and accolades or not, that is definitely worth something. 



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