A child went into a store and asked the old store-keeper for something unique she could buy. He told her to look around and pick whatever she thought was unique. She searched the store and came back to him saying: “There is nothing unique in your store. What should I buy?” The old man told her, “Young lady, you cannot buy what is unique, for it is priceless.” “What do you mean?” she asked, and he replied: “Child, I am the most unique thing in the store, but you cannot buy me.” Life has designed each of us in a way that is unique. There can be no duplication in the world. No one else is identical to you, and hence you are unique, one of a kind. When people lament that they have no ability, they are wrong.
Each of us has an abundance of untapped, unrecognised and unused abilities lying dormant. Only we can use those abilities; they are unique to us. Life loves variety. That’s why each of us has been created differently.
As Khalil Gibran said: “We are life’s longing to be lived.” We are here for a purpose, some shared, some specific. One part of us has a responsibility to share with others and the other part is an assignment that is unique to usThere are two questions that confront us. The first is, ‘Do I matter?’ and the second is, ‘What is my place in life?’ The challenge, therefore, is for each of us to use our gifts and abilities and express our personality, celebrate life and become the person we were born to become. As Goethe put it, “Treat a person as he is and you will get little. Treat a person like he is meant to become and you will see a Phoenix rise.”
( The writer is an organisational and behavioural consultant. He can be contacted at ttsrinath@vsnl.net )
