Take a look at the picture,
This is a photo of the Earth taken by the Voyager spacecraft from a distance of almost 4 billion kilometers away. The "Pale Blue Dot" in the yellow near-vertical line toward the right hand side of the image, is the Earth.
Everyone great and small,famous,infamous and unknown; rich and poor; everyone you and I have ever known lives on the dot. Only a handful of people have ever left it, for a little while, and they didn't go that far (about 200 000 km to the moon - a 20 000x shorter distance than Voyager's distance as it took this photo). On the scale of the solar system, we are not that much more or less momentous than each other. On the scale of the entire known universe, we are all pretty tiny & faceless.
Just do your best wherever & whenever you can. Comparing yourself to others is a certain road to torment.
The discussion ended thus, concluding that a life without comparisons is blissful (I totally agree to that), along with a quote from a wise man - 'I once felt sad because I had no shoes. Then, I met a man with no feet' (I took an immediate disliking to this quote, I'll tell you why later). There was also a mention about Nick Vujicic, a motivational speaker who now operates, 'Life Without Limbs'.
Now, my 2 cents on comparison:
'Comparison is the death of joy', according to Mark Twain. Yes, anybody would accept that statement. Weighing our worth against another's has never been proved to make us feel good at the end, especially if they are your 'next door' types who have been incredibly successful in all their ventures. When we unknowingly let our minds entertain such comparisons, we are left feeling dejected and useless. Soon, our own mind games convince us that we are an unaccomplished lot with no credit to our existence. It is due to such inevitable contemplation of the human mind that we are widely taught to count our blessings instead of our sufferings. But, is it not ironical that we, who preach so much about a life without comparative measurements, actually decide our worth by contrasting ourselves with people who are not as blessed as we are in this world. If we are not supposed to feel bad looking at successful people, why are we constantly advised to find motivation by looking at challenged people? Isn't that too comparison in one way or another? Feeling good about yourself at the cost of other's challenges is not the right way to make yourself happy and content.
I am not here to say life should be devoid of comparisons. Life needs them. In fact, discovering the meaning of our survival depends on them. How? A much better choice is regularly comparing the yester-YOU with the YOU of today. Staying aware of the path you have traversed so far will keep you enlightened about the roads you have to take in the future. These roads, wherever they may lead, should always be focused on one aspect - who YOU become tomorrow should definitely be better than who YOU are today. This is how a comparison must be done for a conscious and fuller living. Weigh yourself within!
I would like to end with a few words about Nick Vujicic and what we can learn from him. Nick is one person who is bound to be mentioned whenever we discuss motivation and inspiration. Today, Nick is a successful motivational speaker, constantly exuding charm and confidence. I took a liking to him because of his public speaking and how he is able to hold his own inside a room. This is the same guy who crossed a childhood filled with abandonment, loneliness, meaningless guilt, depression, and two suicide attempts. It took him that much to discover his hold in life - the superior power and eventually a beautiful family. Similarly, all of us have a hold in our life, a place where we finally surrender ourselves to and spend all our love & energy in making it beautiful. For most of us, that place is family or passion or the superior power. Some of us have already discovered it, some are in the process, and some of us are yet too. Wherever we are now, we will all end at that destination sooner or later. Now, the catch here is not finding our life's hold but how we manage to live our life without cribbing till we do :) Never be hard on yourself just because someone else has found his/her purpose before you did. Our life is at our pace and enjoying it is also in our hands!
P.S: Here is a link to one of Nick's speeches. You are guaranteed a good laugh along with a few tears and a fresh look at your life.