Everyone's spark
Every human being has a spark inside of them. A something special that makes them who they are.
That spark defines them, drives them, encourages them to entertain curiosity, be creative, seek community with others.
And we're each special in a way that is uniquely beautiful to each of us.
I'm not better than you as a human being. Nobody out humans another.
You may have a gift at a specific task, have invested the time into a career, dedicated yourself to really improving and pushing the boundaries of who you are—but human creativity is not a gift bestowed on a select elite.
It rightfully, innately, belongs to each of us.
And, for me at least, it's easy to lose sight of that. 8 billion people is far too many to build a mental model around, to understand, to have a way of knowing each inner life. So we generalize, we group by a number of organizational methods that we've used over the millennia. Age, sex, background, nationality, affluence, IQ, EQ, and a thousand other criteria that we've predetermined separate one group from another. Even red shirts versus blue shirts.
Because we look for patterns, and are freaking amazing at it, we have ways of taking large amounts of data and summarizing it. That's useful when I'm watching a basketball game; these folks are for one team, and these for another. These fans are rooting for home, and these for away.
But, when we do that, we subconsciously start to other people. We think of them as different—to start, but then it's easy to jump into the "less than" category.
Within each of our heads lies a life, a world, a view of the earth around us, and it's impossible to see another's perspective.
That means that we have 8 billion unique views, and each sees the world as their own, with other players in it.
So, as a society we develop empathy, sympathy, tools to try and be a little less selfish, and focused on the good that benefits more than just us. Or not, many of us choose not to do that.
That brings us back to that spark.
It's far too easy to imagine that some "wave your hand vaguely in a general direction" group of people are less than another group of people.
We love to group, and the result is that we can oversimplify, look for ways to say we're better than.
Your spark is uniquely yours, but also a human trait that we all share. And the world deserves more sparks that will shine. We're not worse off for it if mine shines and yours doesn't. We all benefit from seeing and seeking the abilities of others, looking at the unique value and abilities they can bring.
That doesn't negate responsibility, kindness, bravery, leadership, the ability to make hard decisions. All those are crucial. But in the doing of those, we cannot miss the humanness of the others we interact with.1
I'm nearly 40, and I feel like I'm just getting started in understanding the world, understanding the spark within me, and figuring out how to use it and share it.
And I want you to do the same. I want to see the thing that drives you, pushes you, inspires you. Maybe it's long diminished, pushed to the side, discouraged. Maybe you have reason to hide it and not stand out too much. I hear you, I feel you, I resonate completely, I've been there. You're not alone in this.
But maybe, just maybe, you can try again, maybe take that step outward and see what happens.
Does that mean you'll do it perfectly?
Not at all. I can count my failures more than my wins. My mistakes more than my successes. But that can only happen from continually being willing to be vulnerable, to try, to find a reason to care, to find a reason to do something interesting.
There's another rule, seemingly, that happens when you do this. Namely that it might stir trouble, ruffle feathers, upset the status quo. In fact, count on it. Be willing to accept that, and go do something amazing, while at the same time not discounting the humanness and the spark potential of those that might discount you.
- And, by extension, this leads into caring for those that aren't human, taking care of the animals around us, caring for the trees and plants, making sure that the time we spend on this earth is a consideration of more than just ourselves.