Tragedy and success. An ordinary person wouldn't think they have anything to do with each other. It's also thought that they are opposite ends of the spectrum, tragedy being on one side, meh being in the middle, and then there's success, the tantalizing goal that we all strive to reach. In reality though, success and tragedy are closer than they appear. If you don't know happiness, you will not know sadness. If you do not know misery, you will not know joy. So, they are more related than once believed. That's the main idea that I obtained during the TED talk yesterday, but I also noticed a few others. The idea that "I can do anything" is huge in our current society. We teach children that they can be anything they want to be, but the negative side-effect to that is an increasing amount of failure. Low self-esteem is a product of that "I can do anything" attitude because when a person does realize that they cannot do everything, they feel as if they have failed. And we are more afraid of the judgement and ridicule of our peers than the actual negative stigma from our failure. If we fail a test, we are more afraid of what our parents will say than anything else, even the idea that we are not smart. Because, no matter what anyone tells you, you cannot have it all. You cannot be liked by everyone. Life just doesn't work like that no matter how hard you try. As a society, we need to alter our feeling of success because as it is, it's just too messed up.