For thousands of years, scientists have been studying the evolution of man. Once barely capable of communication, we now have multiple languages and art forms dedicated to solely to both personal and universal expression. As humans, we have a right to be prideful of our accomplishments in every aspect of our being: we ought to be rejoicing in our evolution, our success in human development! Man often overlooks these accomplishments in search of more urgent skill so that he might become proud of his deeds. Our perfectionist society condemns conceit as something of shame, slandering those who rejoice in themselves without ludicrous feats, telling us that we need have no right to be proud without uncanny accomplishment. Should we not be proud of the things we can already do?

I have, however, met one group of people who do not hold themselves to such extremity in standards that every outcome ends in agitated shortcomings. This striking group of people is exemplary in everything for which they stand.

Though many pity the handicapped, I have grown to believe that perhaps they are more capable than we are. They constantly seek the betterment of both mind and body, and delight with immense passion at the tasks they can consistently practice. I spent one afternoon of many sitting on wet grass, under the shade of a slender and aging tree with one such successful handicap. I blew slowly through my mouth and into the soap-soaked straw, watching reflections on the bubbles it produced. I heard an exhaling of breath next to me. The woman had mimicked me, forming her lips in a perfect circle and expelling hair from it. I put the straw in front of her mouth as she continued to breathe through that circle. I barely noticed the stream of dazzling foam that floated forth; my eyes were drawn to the woman. She was not, as I had thought, watching the bubbles hover toward the sun. She put her fingers to her mouth, wonder as visible on her face as the bubbles in the air. She felt her mouth for a while as she tested her slow breathing, fascinated by her trick. Slowly as it seemed to me, a grin split across her face, and she clapped her hands with the delight of a child.

I contemplated this smile throughout the rest of the week. Surely this was not something she had strived for; it was hardly something she knew she wanted! Yet the realization of her ability to simply exist and to function brought all-consuming joy that filled her soul. Yet we, who are fully capable of much more development, judge ourselves harshly for our lack of ability to improve at a hardly conceivable pace. Man needs to take pride in everything he does so that he might rejoice in every aspect of development, allowing him to improve with self-conviction.