Gershwin was a struggling young composer working for 35 dollars a week in Tin Pan Alley when he met famous composer Berlin. Berlin was impressed by Gershwin’s ability and offered a job of his musical secretary with 100 dollars a week. At the same time he advised the young man “But don’t take the job. If you do you may develop into a second rate Berlin. But if you insist on being yourself, someday you’ll become a first rate Gershwin”. Gershwin acted on the advice and he became a great composer of his generation.
The advice “insist on being yourself” is a great advice. It is not necessary or desirable to try to mould yourself into a copy of some successful individual. You can use the knowledge gathered from the lives of successful people and the similar success qualities to help you grow. But always retain your own individuality.
You are absolutely unique in the world. Never before since the beginning of time, has there ever been anyone exactly like you. And never again throughout all the ages to come will there ever be anybody exactly like you again. No one who has ever lived or is to come has had your combination of abilities, talents, appearance, friends, acquaintances, burdens, sorrows and opportunities.
Enjoy that uniqueness. You do not have to pretend in order to seem more like someone else. You were not meant to be like someone else. You do not have to lie to conceal some parts of you that are unlike what you see in anyone else. You were meant to be different. Nowhere ever in human history will the same things be going on in anyone's mind, soul and spirit as are going on in yours right now. If you did not exist, there would be a hole in creation, a gap in history, something missing from the plan for humankind.
You are unique. Even though you share many things in common with other people, you are essentially one of a kind. No one else has been given exactly the same makeup as God has given you. Your face, your fingerprints, your voice, and your genetic makeup are matched by no one else’s. Likewise, God has handcrafted you with your personality, your unique set of talents and motivations, and your special “bent” in life.
And you have a unique purpose in this world. Not only has God made you, He has designed you for His special reasons. He has crafted you to carry out a unique purpose and mission in life. So find the purpose by finding your uniqueness. Most of our troubles result from our inability to understand and accept our uniqueness. Learning to understand one’s self is a never ending process. But you can achieve greatness only in that process. So be patient and treasure your uniqueness. It is a gift given only to you. Enjoy it and share it!
- N.GANESHAN
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