This pet peeve of mine is kind of related to the same problem, except...opposite. Completely opposite. Which is weird...but oh well.
I can't stand when people say my brother is inferior to me. We're really close in age (just a year and a half apart), but the differences between us are really shokcing to people who don't know we're related. As far as they can see, we're complete opposites, which is true to a degree, I suppose. In a societal setting, sure. At home, when no one else is around, we're the exact same person.
But in school, we're different people. I'm the quiet but brilliant kid (I don't think I'm brilliant. Everyone else seems to >_<), valedictorian, who is somehow liked by just about everybody. Respectful, minding my own business, and excelling in just about everything I do, that's me.
Jon, on the other hand, is smart, but he doesn't apply himself. He argues with the teachers, is almost universally hated among the entire school ("Chris, your brother freaks me out. I don't like him."), and is disrespectful to most of his teachers. He's very opinionated, and argues constantly about just about everything. Disruptive, annoying, he doesn't get get involved with much of anything, and if he does he loses interest quickly.
We go to the same school, so quite often teachers who have had both of us will ask our parents, "What happened between the two of them?". Most people who know both of us believe (joking, but not really) that our parents must love me more, because I'm the successful one.
But you know what? I hate that, I really do. Because while he's not successful to these people, he's his own person. He speaks out in class because he believes that the teacher's policies are unfair. He doesn't do well in school because he refuses to cater to a teacher's whims; he does what he wants. In this world, that's considered a rebellious teen, a failure, while the kid who takes it all quietly and doesn't stand up for anything is hailed as a little angel. He's an actual person, something I just can't be. It doesn't work for me. I'd love to be that way, but it's just not in me.
He has a sense of humor. He has a personality. I have neither, really, except with my very closest friends. As far as our material-oriented society goes, that's not what counts. What counts is getting a good job. But I admire his accomplishments far more than I do my own: he's more of a triumph to the human race. He is who he is and not who he's told to be. I find that amazing.
I got off track there, and it probably makes little sense. But basically, I hate it when people say I'm superior to him because of my grades, scholarships, accomplishments, whatever. His stuff may not go on a college resume, but it's what I think really counts in life. He's been my best friend my entire life, and no one's going to tell me I'm better than him. He's the coolest kid I've ever known, and I look up to him, not the other way around.
(By the way, for those who didn't know, my brother is SciFifreak90. make more sense now? )
GPI: Fondly regard crustacean