"Be Youself; Everyone Else is Already Taken"

I've had many students over the years and I've learned a lot from them.

I've been thinking a lot recently about one particular pair of students, two boys. One smallish, one biggish, but the same age.

The smaller one, well, he was a piece of work, that boy. You had to watch that he didn't take over the class both with his unselfconscious antics and with his innate leadership qualities. He was a piece of work, but he was an original.

The bigger boy was smart as a whip, but was a follower. So what would happen is that the first boy would get going telling some story or creating some activity he wasn't supposed to. This would begin to register in my mind and I would start to reprimand him. But by that time, he was on to the next thing, and the other boy would be parroting the first boy's actions or words verbatim, and the second boy would catch the reprimand. I found this frustrating because it wasn't really fair to the bigger boy to get in trouble for the smaller boy's ideas. I also found it frustrating that the bigger boy, who was so sharp, wouldn't just be himself, come up with his own stories, his own interesting actions. He spent his energy being a “knock-off” when he had it in him to be an original in his own right.

I found it frustrating, but the reason I've been thinking of these two recently, is because I've been wondering if I don't have more in common with the bigger boy than I'd like to admit. How much parroting don't I do? I see or hear someone I respect and try to behave or talk in a similar way; I see how “proper” people maintain their homes or careers or families then spend energy mostly feeling wrong for not doing things “properly.”

Am I an original or a knock-off? By this stage of the game, would I even know the difference in myself?

In the art and fashion worlds, original pieces are always more valuable than knock-offs. I would say the same for people I know: the ones who are truly themselves, who are comfortable in their own skins, who aren't trying to be someone else are more interesting, more comfortable and safe to be around, more encouraging. For some people, I suppose, this comes naturally. For others, it takes a tremendous act of courage to remember and embrace their “original” status.

So God created mankind in God's own image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female God created them....

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

Gen. 1:27, 31