Thank you, but I feel uneasy in other environments.
Why yes, most people are above average! 
LOL well then @creamcake if you refuse to make yourself into a better person, then everyone is really better than you!
40: I call warts.
I used to have a weird way of thinking about accomplishment. If my friend got a B on a test while I got an A, I would think, “I’m smarter than him.” If my friend got an A while I got a B, I would think, “He isn’t smarter than me. He’s older and went to a better school. If I had those characteristics, I would get an A too.”
I’ve realized that it’s not useful to compare myself to other people, because it’s hard to know how much my accomplishments have been caused by my circumstances as opposed to personal merit. As far as academic achievement, it’s very dubious to compare yourself to someone who had different opportunities. I mean, you’re already richer and more educated than almost everyone who has ever lived. If luck could make you happy, you’d be happy.
OK, so here’s what I’m reading: you’re looking for a way to stand out, and you were hoping that getting your Bachelor’s Degree would do exactly that. But you’re concerned because so many people seem to have their Bachelor’s Degree… am I getting closer???
One of the things I love about being an adult is that this sort of stuff doesn’t matter to me. Nope, the odds are pretty good that in a hundred years, they won’t be reading about bjkmom in the history books.
That doesn’t mean I’m not making a difference, simply that I’m making it on a much smaller scale than the one you’re aspiring to.
Every single day I make a difference in the lives of my husband. And my three kids. And the 180 or so kids I teach. And the 38 in my homeroom. And the 650 or so in my cafeteria duty. And the drivers I pass on my way to and from work, who sometimes make an error and don’t get cursed at or an obscene gesture. And the cashiers I deal with, as pleasantly as I can. And the kids I tutor.
There are some times when I can make a bigger difference to some people. After 9/11, we raided our pantry when a local school district was running supplies in to Ground Zero. And I explained to my then-3-year-old that the firemen in “the city” were fighting a really big fire and needed our snacks. And he helped me put everything he loved into that bag.
In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, we were lucky enough to be in the 10% of Long Island who didn’t lose power. (We did lose part of our roof, but we had power.) So we had the friends of my kids sleep over for several days. (The temperatures plummeted right after the storm, and we had snow about 3 days later. Lots of people had no heat.) We did laundry for neighbors, and contributed hot meals to the church. We donated every spare blanket and coat we had to the people in Breezy Point (Queens, an entire neighborhood that burnt down during the hurricane. The weren’t able to salvage anything from many of those homes.) And, in the time since, I can’t read of a major crisis, like say a tornado, without putting some money into an envelope. Nope, I’m not making the headlines or the history books. But I am doing my little bit to help people. And, more importantly, I’m teaching my kids and my students to do the same.
Have you ever read the Story of the Starfish? http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/56782.Loren_Eiseley
" Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”
The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”
“I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” asked the somewhat startled wise man.
To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”
At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said,
"It made a difference for that one.”
― Loren Eiseley "
You don’t need a Bachelor’s Degree to “be better than anyone else.” You need to be the best YOU you can be, and not worry about how or what others are doing. You need to “make a difference for that one”-- whoever “that one” might be.
First of all, thank you for this. Secondly, I have absolutely no desire to be famous. Simply walking around public and looking at random people knowing that they haven’t achieved as much as me would be satisfying enough.
Why? Why can’t what YOU’VE achieved ben enough? Why does your happiness depend on what THEY’VE done?
Perhaps this link will explain it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8I9pYCl9AQ
The thing is, every single thing you do comes at a price. If you spend your every waking moment devoted to some cause, from finding a cure for cancer to saving the whales, then that’s going to impact the time and money and energy you have to devote to everything else that’s important in your life.
If you value your education for the sake of education, great. If you value it because you think it will make you a more well rounded person, great. If you think it will get you a leg up in the job market, great.
But if you’re under the impression that it will somehow make you “better” than anyone else, then you’re sadly mistaken.
Look at that viral video of the ESPN reporter, who thinks that her education and her high profile job makes her “better” than the clerk at the towing company. She’s horribly, horribly wrong.
And no matter what level of education you receive, the odds are overwhelming that someone else somewhere else will have you beat. You get your BA, great. But I have my Masters. And my friend has his PhD. You see where I’m going with this??
You’ve got to learn to value who you are and what you do based on your OWN set of values, not on the value put on it by someone else’s accomplishments.
Yes and no. 50% of people are better and 50% of people are not, on average.
@creamcake what exactly do you want by being better than others? Not that it’s wrong to think that way, but that there’ll always be people who’ve accomplished more and those who’ve accomplished less. If you go up higher, your peers will be higher as well. There’s people who get a PhD before turning 16 and it’d be hard to try to make sure that they don’t finish college a year earlier than you.
Anyways, there are a few easy ways to solve the ego issue of getting your Bachelor’s degree a few months later than most college graduates. Maybe just get a better Bachelor’s degree. If your friends are going to community college, why don’t you get a degree from Harvard instead? I’m pretty sure spending 4 years getting a BA at Harvard would be way more impressive than finishing community college a year faster. You can also take harder classes or accelerate your learning, or just go for a graduate degree.
If, on the other hand, you can’t really do anything more and are already struggling through college to keep up, then I’d say most people are better than you. Mainly in terms of attitude 
Also, I don’t really get why you feel at the bottom of the list because you’re older than your peers. I’ve never thought about that. Personally, I’d say that other factors like prestige of college or if you have a girlfriend would matter a lot more ego-wise.
I don’t have a girlfriend. Sigh. Dammit. Most people have had a girlfriend by my age. I’ve never had one. Darn. Why do so many people have girlfriends? Actually. Girls are like… well they make life interesting but also depressing. Rant end.
also note that I’m only writing here not really to reply, but because I’m bored
I have no interest in girlfriends. I like talking to women and buying stuff for them, but I have interest relationship. And also, some spouses can be very insistence.
Wow, just wow.
Your emphasis is on being better than other people. You like “talking to women and buying stuff for them” but that’s the end of your interest. And you have an issue with spouses.
I think you really need to sit down and figure out your priorities. My honest opinion, as a mom and as a high school teacher, is that they’re pretty confused. Could you make an appointment with your guidance counselor and show her this entire thread?
Your video post of Syndrome seems to be indicative of what you value. Keep in mind: Syndrome was the villain in that movie. He was the one bent on destruction and inflicting pain. He was not the hero, not the one Disney was hoping kids would emulate.
kirito was using humor to make a point, one you seem to have missed.
Just because he’s the villain doesn’t mean that nothing he says isn’t true. And I got that it was humor, but I simply had no response for it. And I’m not showing this to anyone. I’m trying to get this thread deleted.
The best of luck to you.
Jesus christ dude. You know what? Yes, most people are better than you. And it’s not because they have bachelor’s degrees, or PhDs, or what have you. It’s because most people are healthy enough to not need to look at “random people knowing that they haven’t achieved as much” to feel good about themselves. Honestly, I’m astounded at the fact that you even typed that sentence out. That’s not normal at all. It’s a callous, shallow, petty way to look at other people. You’re never going to be satisfied with yourself until you get some help for your weird self-esteem problems.
Sorry redandblack. I got a bit carried away. It’s just that I’ve got so used to being inferior to everyone and I’ve usually put up with it, but I guess I’ve just reached my breaking point now.
Self-deprecation at its finest. Be YOU. That is what truly matters.