The Pedestal Problem: A Tale of Human Height and Hype

Looking Up (Until I Didn't)

You know that moment when you realize Santa Claus isn't real? Well, I've been having a lot of those moments lately – except instead of Santa, it's been with people I once thought walked on water. Spoiler alert: turns out they're just swimming in the same pool as the rest of us, and sometimes they don't even know how to swim.

The High Table Mirage

It was Barack Obama who really got me thinking about this whole phenomenon. There he was, former President of the United States, casually dropping truth bombs about how the people at those coveted "high tables" aren't actually as special as we make them out to be. I mean, when a former president tells you that even presidents aren't all that, you have to listen, right?

He essentially said (and I'm paraphrasing here) that once you finally get that seat at the fancy table everyone's dying to sit at, you look around and think, "Wait... is this it? Are these the giants I've been looking up to?"

Plot twist: Those giants? They're wearing invisible stilts made of our expectations.

The Packaging Premium

Let me tell you about my own adventures in pedestal-building. I've become something of an expert at it, really. Give me:

• A person with impressive credentials

• A handful of glowing recommendations

• A dash of public admiration

• A sprinkle of social media presence

• And voilà! I'll construct a pedestal so high you'd need oxygen to reach the top

The funny thing about pedestals though? They're usually built on clouds of assumptions, and we all know what happens when you try to stand on a cloud.

The Close-Up Reality Show

Here's where it gets interesting (and by interesting, I mean slightly embarrassing for my judgment). Over the past few months, I've had the chance to get up close and personal with some of these "pedestaled people." You know, the ones I thought were:

• So eloquent (until they had to speak without a script)

• So sophisticated (until they had to handle real pressure)

• So full of class and dignity (until they didn't get their way)

It's like watching a makeup tutorial in reverse – fascinating, slightly disturbing, but ultimately educational.

The Unfiltered Truth

Let's be real for a second (because apparently, that's what we weren't being before). These close encounters of the disillusioning kind taught me something valuable: we're all just people trying to figure it out. Some of us just have better PR teams.

The ones I thought were:

• Walking libraries of wisdom? Sometimes just good at quoting others.

• Natural-born leaders? Sometimes just loud with confidence.

• Pillars of integrity? Sometimes just really good at Instagram filters.

And you know what? That's actually okay.

The Silver Lining Playbook

Here's the plot twist in my story of disillusionment: it's actually made me a better person. (I know, I was surprised too.) This whole experience has:

• Made me less judgmental (because who am I to judge from a distance?)

• Taught me patience (good things come to those who wait to see people's true colors)

• Given me better people-reading skills (I now come equipped with a built-in authenticity detector)

The New Normal

These days, I approach people like I approach those "authentic" Chinese restaurants in the mall – with cautious optimism and zero expectations. It's amazing how much better the experience is when you're not expecting Michelin-star performance from every interaction.

The Ground Level View

So here's the moral of the story (because apparently every good story needs one): Pedestals are just fancy ways to get altitude sickness. The real connections, the genuine relationships, the authentic experiences – they all happen on solid ground.

The next time you find yourself looking up at someone and getting a crick in your neck, remember:

1. The view from the ground is actually pretty good

2. Most pedestals are just elaborate illusions

3. The most interesting conversations happen eye-to-eye, not eye-to-pedestal

And perhaps most importantly: If someone seems too good to be true from a distance, try getting closer. Either you'll discover they're human like the rest of us (which is perfectly fine), or you'll find out they're actually a cardboard cutout (which explains a lot).

A Final Note: The irony isn't lost on me that in writing about not putting people on pedestals, I started with a quote from Barack Obama. But hey, even our revelations about not idolizing people can come from unexpected places – sometimes even from the very people we used to put on pedestals. The real wisdom isn't in never looking up to anyone; it's in remembering to look them in the eye when they're standing right in front of you.