Our Deepest Fear?

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."- Marianne Williamson ( she said it first, Mandela later used it in his inaugural address thus making it famous)

For most of us this quote rings a rather loud and obnoxious bell. We have heard it many times; in graduation speeches, splashed across motivational posters, and in the occasional Facebook " favourite quotations" section. I have to give credit to Marianne here, it's a nice thought. However, this quote bothers me, as i'm sure it bothers many others. The reason I find it irksome has nothing to do with how often I see it used, but rather the blatant disregard for putting it into action. I'll admit that I am guilty of doing this, and so is pretty much any other person who has ever quoted it ( which is a lot ). Mrs. Williamson makes a valid point of saying " Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure" of course we are, we are the human race- the most intelligent life form on this planet ( save debate about life forms for another time). Sadly though, I think our deepest fear has become that we will  not be able to achieve certain lifestyles for ourselves- we've become overly materialistic ( I blame Madonna). I mean really, on a daily basis how many people sit around going " oh my deepest fear is that i'm not living up to my potential." Of course we don't, if we did that we would all be manically depressed and nobody would speak to us. They would say things like " Oh [ insert name] is always so negative about all of us wasting away our potential" and you'd never be invited to anything ever again. Instead, we  focus on worrying about the latest exam, or the project our boss gave us, or some other meaningless mundane task that we "simply must complete" in order to move on to the next mundane task- all in the name of progress. Progress toward what may I ask?  I just began University and I sit in a classroom with 300 other "young adults"  all learning the same subject, all competing for the top score. We spend our lives trying to make it onto the " elite list" so that we can feel like we have accomplished something. So great you land the job that gives you a better-than-average  salary and two weeks vacation a year. Splendid. After all who needs more than two weeks of free time? Honestly, don't be ridiculous. I suppose all I am saying in this little rant of mine is that Ms. Williamson ought to be thoroughly disappointed in us; we've lost sight of what our potential can truly be. Perhaps she should change the quote to " Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, but rather that we aren't better than everyone else." It would probably be more accurate and it would certainly be quoted significantly less often.