What My Little Pony Has Taught Me About The Human Condition

My six-year-old daughter is obsessed with My Little Pony — the cartoon phenomenon about 6 ponies who learn, in each episode, that the most powerful magic in the world is friendship. I know. Gag.

Watching the show is like driving by a car wreck…you don’t want to be interested but somehow you can’t look away. Yet, after viewing another episode with my daughter the other day, a seismic realization hit me: My Little Pony is a clever parable about the ONE thing that determines all of human suffering and happiness. And it’s not friendship.

The one element that determines our joy or misery is our sense of importance. Do we matter? Do we bring something to the world that is unique and valuable? Would the world miss us if we suddenly vanished, or would life go on uninterrupted?

Think about it. The need to feel important is what drives us to excel in our careers, to seek out love and companionship, and to pursue wealth which buys the things that will outwardly make us look and feel more important than we actually are. It’s the reason why many of us are religious — because if the world doesn’t find us important, God surely must. There is great comfort in that.

Conversely, depression sets in when we feel we don’t matter. We all experience this feeling at various points in our lives, sometimes chronically so. In extreme cases, it’s a lack of self worth that propels people like Eric Harris and Dylan Klybold to gun down their Columbine classmates. Their fellow students were the embodiment of a society that places disproportionate value on individuals based on superficial qualities — looks, personality, social standing, and talent. It’s no wonder the quiet, unassuming ones are always the mass murderers and serial killers. They’ve been told in subtle and not-so-subtle ways their entire lives that they’re not good enough, and this can create an extreme feeling of anger and helplessness.

Celebrity worship is also detrimental to our collective sense of self worth. How many people fell all over themselves to laud David Bowie after his death? And yet thousands of other people died that same day with little fanfare. How can we, individuals, possibly ever feel good about ourselves when we are bombarded with daily reminders that we’ll never win that kind of attention or praise?

Which brings me back to My Little Pony. The common thread to every episode is not friendship — it’s that each pony has a gift, and without that gift, Ponyville could not exist in happiness or harmony. We are constantly reminded that each pony (person) is valued and has an important part to play, and that our mission in life is to find the one thing that makes us special. Often, we need our friends to help us find, or rediscover, our special gift to the world — our very own “cutie mark.” My favorite episode is one that playfully ignores the main characters to make the point that even the “side act” ponies are important.

When you’re down, it’s hard to talk yourself back from the ledge and convince yourself that the world really does need you. But here’s one simple thing you can do, starting today. You can help someone else find their sense of self worth by reminding them how valuable they are…to you. And that without him or her, your world would be less harmonious and joyful.

My Little Pony reminds us that the human condition requires us to help one another discover what makes each of us valuable and vital.