Thursday, March 8, 2012

While reading the other day, I cam across the following concept: work inside yourself on accepting difference and uniqueness as a wonderful gift that increases us all.  Reading this made me smile, for the sentiment contained within mirrors my greatest beliefs that everyone has something to offer, no matter how big or small. 

Too often, folks feel compressed as society’s norms attempt to shave off the unique edges and angles that make a person special.  Conformity seems to be the norm.  What purpose does this serve? 

Some of history’s greatest contributors were non-conformists.  Mother Theresa, Michael Angelo, Galileo, Picasso, Einstein, Helen Keller, Christopher Columbus, Freud, Carl Jung, Alexander Graham Bell, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo Da Vinci, Edison and Henry Ford just to name a few.  If it weren’t for these outside-the-box thinkers who refused to allow society to force them into roles they weren’t born to fill, the world we appreciate today wouldn’t be vastly different.

I follow in the footsteps of these greats by accepting my uniqueness—those qualities that make me stand apart from the norm.  It’s not always easy, but the rewards I gain when I view results of my actions benefitting or enlightening others makes the effort worthwhile.