Rats & Our Uniqueness

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you all having a great day as the glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! :)

This morning I want to share some thoughts & ideas with you. Some are from lines in a movie, some come from quotes and some come from thoughtful conversation. A key, the real key, is that while I can share the thought and/or idea, each one of us must choose what we will do with it. To see, hear, learn and to do nothing with it is to waste the gift of knowledge & wisdom. I pray we will not just see and hear but that we would do! :)

Last weekend my Beautiful Bride, oldest Tender Warrior and I watched Ratatouille. If you haven't seen this movie, or perhaps you haven't watched it in a while, I want to encourage you to watch it this weekend. Yes, it is an animation however it has many great messages within it.

One moment was very poignant to me. At the end of the movie, the dreaded food critic says the following:

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations, the new needs friends." - Anton Ego, Ratatouille

This brings to mind the quote by Theodore Roosevelt:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

I am going to share some thoughts however before doing so I want to share a conversation I had yesterday morning and a few quotes. While working out yesterday I was visiting with a colleague. We were talking about the challenges of working with some types of people and he made the statement, "Like the rest of us, he is unique." Please think about that short, 8 word sentence for a moment...Like. The. Rest. Of. Us. He. Is. Unique.

According to the Bible, which I believe, you and I are fearfully and wonderfully made. We were created on purpose for a purpose. We are perfectly equipped, lacking nothing. There are not any two of us walking the face of the earth who are exactly alike. Each one of us is unique - not better, not worse, just different. It is a beautiful thing! And yet, sadly, so many of us spend all of our time trying to be like everyone else when that is not what we were created to be. Sad, tragic, and so ironic. You & I are these beautiful, unique creations that spend far to much time trying to be like everyone else and then feeling unfulfilled because we are not seen for who we are. We have to be who we are before we can become all we were created to become - a "Duh" kind of statement however some of us need to hear that this morning!

I want to share several quotes about being unique. Yes, I am trying to encourage you to be YOU! :)

"The person who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The person who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever seen before." - Albert Einstein

"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken." - Oscar Wilde

"If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be." - Maya Angelou

"By being yourself you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before." - Edwin Elliott

"I've come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that's as unique as a fingerprint - and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you." - Oprah Winfrey

"You can make life very simple or very complicated. Some people try to be what others want them to be. Others try to be different just to stand out. In both cases, they are changing themselves to impress others. Neither of these paths has a heart. Be true to yourself. It's that simple." - Mike Stutman

"Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else." - Margaret Mead

"A human being is a single being. Unique and unrepeatable." - Eileen Caddy

"From the very beginning you are being told to compare yourself with others. This is the greatest disease; it is like a cancer that goes on destroying your very soul because each individual is unique, and comparison is not possible." - Osho

"As we grow as unique persons, we learn to respect the uniqueness of others." - Robert H. Schuller

So there are two challenges I would like to offer us on this glorious morning! :)

1. Please be YOU! Live the talents, gifts & abilities you have been given! Develop them fully, to the very best of your ability, with God's help! Please don't look left, right, back or down...Look up and follow the path before you! Please don't worry about what others say, think or do...you are not living their lives and they are not living yours. Please embrace the wonderful, beautiful YOU! I am telling you Sweet Friend, YOU have so much to offer and this world so desperately needs YOU! 

You know who I want to be like? My chocolate lab, Lexus. Don't laugh, I am serious! :) She is not the least bit concerned about being anything other than a chocolate lab. Sadly sometimes, she doesn't care what anyone else says, thinks or does. :) She is just being the best chocolate lab she knows how to be. And her best quality? She loves unconditionally. In the 2+ years we have had her, I have seen her "mad" exactly 1 time...it was when our beagle was being mean to one of our family members and Lexus just wasn't going to have that - she was protecting us. Putting herself between what she perceived to be a threat and the one's she loves. Yes, I hope I grow up to be just like my dog! :) Being the best me I can be, loving everyone unconditionally and willing to put myself in harms way to protect those I love. 

2. Please don't be the critic. As I have been typing this I can't help but think how many of our problems in society come back to being a critic. Think about it for a minute. We, as a society, are so busy criticizing others. What would this world look like if we weren't allowed to say anything about someone else? What if we all just worked on becoming the best we were capable of becoming? If our minutes, hours and days were spent developing our talents, gifts and abilities and we used those to serve others? This would be a completely different world.

Let's not be like the last line of the quote from Ratatouille above, "The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations, the new needs friends." No, instead lets be like the quote from Robert H. Schuller, "As we grow as unique persons, we learn to respect the uniqueness of others." Let's simply strive to be the best we are capable of becoming and encourage, empower and equip others to do the same.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious family!

Kev