The Best Version

‘Be the best version of yourself in anything you do. You don't have to live anybody else's story.’ - Stephen Curry, an American professional basketball player

How often during our life have we heard the words “Why can’t you…”  followed by a comparison with someone else? “Why can’t you graduate from university with honours like your sister did?” ‘“Why can’t you be a better housekeeper like your mother?” Why can’t you forget about being a musician and study something worthwhile like your brother?” And the answer to most, if not all, of these questions would be [if we were truthful] “because I’m not my sister, my mother or my brother. I am myself!” However what is often said is response is: “I don’t know.” “I’ll try harder!” All the while we are feeling guilty for not living up to the expectations put on us by others. 

Unfortunately it is only after years of experience, of trying to fulfil those expectations of what we should be like and who we should be measuring up to, that we are can finally say ‘That isn’t me.’ Even then we say it quietly, sometimes under our breath, sometimes in a whisper, and sometimes silently. The society we live in has done a good job in placing these expectations on each of us. It has taught us from an early age that being different, in any way, is not a good thing. 

 To quote Mr. Rogers: “As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has ― or ever will have ― something inside that is unique to all time. It's our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression.”

As the gospel writer, Luke, has Jesus saying: "No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar, but on the lamp stand so that those who enter may see the light.” Despite this the church, for the most part, is one of those that encourages us to all fit the same pattern, to all shed the same light, instead of each shedding the light that is ours, that comes from within ourselves.

It is this uniqueness that society has tried to take away from each and every one of us. It is this uniqueness that is a gift that only we can give back to society. It is this uniqueness that we need to share. It is this uniqueness that we need to celebrate.

Be nobody’s darling

Be an outcast.

Take the contradictions

Of your life

And wrap around

You like a shawl, 

To parry stones

To keep you warm.

~Alice Walker