Tragedy can have a multitude of meaning depending on the person you ask, and to some, tragedy could have a fairly close tie to the failure and success of our everyday lives. In the TED-Talk titled A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy to Success, Alain de Button begins talking about snobbery and it's tie to envy. Snobbery, as he defines it, is when a person makes an assumption of another by simply looking at one aspect of that person's appearance. Take for example the saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover." From snobbery, de Button describes envy, and how people who are envious tend to envy those similar in age. One example made by Alain de Button, is one in which he asks the audience whether or not they are envious of the queen. Most would say no, they are not envious of the queen. Why is that? de Button's answer for this is quite simple. Nearly everyone who is not royalty, or does not have government authority, cannot relate to the queen. If we are unable to relate, we are unable to envy. This being said, when we are able to relate to those around us, to people such as those we have went to school with, we compare ourselves to them. We look at some of these people and notice their fancy cars, jewelry, and large houses, and we think to ourselves: If they have that, I too deserve that. This is exactly how society today is run, and unfortunately, it is not working, for many people take this envy out on themselves. They look at themselves and punish themselves for failure. It is their fault for becoming this way, but really, the real world is not set up for everyone to be successful, or at least this depends on ones definition of success. This constant comparison to those around us, and this constant expectation, this goal we are unable to meet, is really what causes adults and youth alike to take their own lives. This is tragedy seen within the real world. Tragedy in the real world can be defined as the failure that a person see's within themselves, and the actions they take in account for this. Picture titled: 3rd Wheel, by Tihamer Von Margitay
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