That's Awful

"'Number One' was a phrase my father—and, for that matter, my mother—repeated time and time again. It was a phrase spoken by my parents’ friends and by their friends’ children. Whenever adults discussed the great Chinese painters and sculptors from the ancient dynasties, there was always a single artist named as Number One. There was the Number One leader of a manufacturing plant, the Number One worker, the Number One scientist, the Number One car mechanic. In the culture of my childhood, being best was everything. It was the goal that drove us, the motivation that gave life meaning. And if, by chance or fate or the blessings of the generous universe, you were a child in whom talent was evident, Number One became your mantra. It became mine. I never begged my parents to take off the pressure. I accepted it; I even enjoyed it. It was a game, this contest among aspiring pianists, and although I may have been shy, I was bold, even at age five, when faced with a field of rivals."
-Lang Lang

This may be the singularly most negative piece of shit i have ever read. I do not disagree with ambition. I disagree with the concept of Number One. Because Number One reduces everything down to rank. As if the only thing that is important is the Number One. As if the world would somehow be the best it could be if we killed everyone who was not number one. imagine. Then we would have the Number One killer amongst us. The Number one rapist amongst us as well. Wow that was a shitty bad example. In a remote way i may have dreamed of being the number one painter in the world.... but however would i measure this? the judges? money? whosoever could judge that i was the best. No One. rather they could judge me amongst others. That is why i don't believed in star reviews. A review should be a understanding of the work and an contextualization. Rank is meaningless. Number ONe is a terrible ambition because what happens when you get there? I choose to be as expressive as i goddamn can be.