Unexceptional
“It is
always astonishing to me to find out that someone else sees what I
have seen, and always humbling to learn that what I thought was my
path and my mountain is everyone's.”
Mark Nepo
(The Book of Awakening, p.231)
It is always tempting to
think of oneself as unique. And, certainly, we are told by all the
self-help books in the world that we are one of a kind. But, let's
face it, all of our DNA is identical to every other human's, and not
that different from, say, a chicken's (65%). When it comes to the
great apes, we share 98.8 % with Bonobos and Chimps. Even some of the
“lower” animals such as dogs (84%) and mice (90%), are blood
brothers and sisters. So, we can get off our ego-trip about how
exceptional we are, and put our feet back on the ground.
We humans also have a
tendency to think that our troubles and our gifts are unique. “Nobody
knows the trouble I've seen...” Think again! Lots of people have
seen the same trouble and worse—much worse. I, for one, have been
poor. I lived in poverty as a young child—as did most of my
cousins, but I have never lived in a war torn area, nor in a refugee
camp. I am able-bodied, while both of my sisters were disabled.
Everyone totes their share of baggage on this mountain path.
My gifts are in the area
of creativity. I write, make art—but I am no Frank Lloyd Wright, no
Harper Lee or Georgia O'Keeffe. There are many people walking this
earth and many long gone, whose gifts in these areas far exceed my
own. I am not unique. We share this mountain with all who have gone
before us, and all who will come after us. It is simply our job to
carry water while we're here. But, we are called upon to carry that
water to the very best of our ability, and to share it with the rest
of creation—with the chimps, and the mice, and the chickens—with
our brothers and sisters. I don't have to be exceptional to be
essential, and neither do you.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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