Choosing Individuality

If we walk in to a room with several people do we judge all of them by the behavior of some of them?  When reviewing a set of facts do we reject all of them because we disagree with some of them?  We have a tendency to group individuals as well as facts together, resulting in our painting a picture of a single color. This is the basis for the expression of “painting all things with the same brush.”

Let us open a newspaper or turn on the TV, and we will see those who wish to manipulate our opinion by using this technique of grouping all things together. Listen to a political argument, we will accept or reject everything said by our evaluation of something. We often do not wish to take the time to separate things because it is hard work. Instead we may allow ourselves to be swayed by those who would paint everything under discussion in a single color.

Life is a portrait painted in brilliant colors but when we fail to appreciate the contrasts, everything fades to shades of gray. Excellence is not a matter of uniformity but of motivation, preparation and implementation. When we fix on individuals as such, we can get a better sense of who they are. When we examine all of the facts individually we can better evaluate what is before us. We would not appreciate being evaluated by the behavior of a group, nor would we want our greatest achievement depreciated by our largest failure.

No good deed, no matter how small, is diminished one single bit by a misguided act, no matter how large. It is the combination of our successes and failures that defines our individuality. Let us not deny others the same benefit, the same opportunity to be unique, multifaceted individuals. In the age of instant 24 hour news, with our fixation on quantity, let us not allow ourselves to fall victims of those, who for their own reasons, would cause us to view the world through their eyes. Life is before us, every hour of every day and our choices are many. Let us choose individuality this day.