‘I am special. I’m the only one.
I’m the only one of me.’

Those lyrics are sooo funny now. I used to sing that song over and over again in school when I was little. Teaching the all valuable American lesson that we are individuals…we each are one of a kind and no one can be anything like us. HUH? This song is really interesting considering I went to a Christian elementary school. Clearly they wanted us to learn that we each are made in God’s image. And individually are saved by God’s grace. That after all is what makes Christianity ‘special’…that we are brought into a personal relationship with God himself.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic. Mostly just because I’ve found myself singing this song a few too many times this past week. And then once in the middle of the song I was like, WHAT…what am I singing???....i’m the only one of me. Is that what is so special about me…that I’m the only one?

I wondered what kind of person I would have become…or would have been as a child if I was taught instead that what is special about being me is not that i’m one of a kind…but that I am ‘one’ with everything. Of course I have my talents….but they are only useful when they are placed into the mix of the earth. And I have my weakness…which is where other people’s talents lie…and with the combined two (with our powers combined we create captain planet) OK…so with all of our strengths we are actually strong. So I know that sounds simple…and a little strange…flow with me…

I am not one of a kind. I am one with the earth. One with mankind. One with love. With this belief I understand that we are not all different, yet we are all the same. All longing for, looking for, needing, seeking, and moving toward similar ends. I have the ability to be empathtic since I have felt pain too. I have the abililty to listen because I have been there. I have the ability to change, since the earth is constantly recreating itself. A leaf falls and I understand its wandering spirit. The sun wakes early to shine, I understand its warming soul. You cry and I am there in the place where my tears once were.

We are special. Because we are a WE. Depending on eachother. Laughing with one another. Loving strangers and friends alike. We are strong in our strings that connect us. And weak in our individualism.