/u/AlphaAsFAQ made a thread concerning a joke made about George Clooney at the Golden Globes. The joke in question was regarding a life time achievement award George was set to receive and how, despite his new wife being a human rights lawyer, it was George receiving the award.

While made in jest, OP was upset by the joke itself and understandably so. It's often said that you can't have humor without truth and clearly this was a prime example of that. In spite of Clooney's achievements, the hosts still thought (even if only to the slightest degree) that he was undeserving of said award - compared to his human rights lawyer wife.

Now I don't want to get into whether it was a joke and shouldn't be taken seriously, or whether it was unfair that at a time where Clooney should have been rightly being honored for his work, he was still being undermined. That's a topic for another discussion. However what I do feel is important is the one lesson that we should take away from this - that valuing recognition is an exercise in futility.

Whether the joke made was fair or not, the fact is, it does not matter. What does in fact matter is that the joke was a demonstration of solipsism at work. Amy and Tina, by attempting to re-shift the focus to Mrs. Clooney demonstrated that a) any time a man is owed recognition by a woman, that woman will instead try to refocus that recognition to herself or another woman, and b); AWALT.

When women say 'behind every great man is a woman' it's not about demonstrating that a woman makes a man great, but that even in when a man is being recognized for greatness, a woman must get the opportunity to hog the plaudits. Those of us who've swallowed the pill, know that the path to greatness is an internal one. Yet women, who have historically been considerably less great than men, will still attempt to trivialize the achievements of men, by shoe-horning themselves into the spotlight. Amy and Tina, despite being 'great' themselves, couldn't help trying to bring George down a peg or two. AWALT.

So what do we take away from this? Well it's simple. Don't expect recognition from your achievements. Least of all from women. More importantly don't make attaining your goals about recognition. Instead prioritize greatness for your own sake. That way when you're where Clooney is at and people are still trying to trivialize achievement, you can put on a smile of amused mastery and know that no matter how hard they try, they can't reduce in any way, the greatness you've achieved.