Every Great Man Is Unique

“Insist on yourself; never imitate….Every great man is unique.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

If God wanted to create every person to be and live exactly the same, we would have seen a clue from our fingers. But check your five fingers none have the same size, height or even shapes. That is God’s pointer to us that we must live uniquely. Currently, there are about 7 billion human beings on the surface of the earth, and one amazing thing is the fact that every individual is unique. Regi Campbell, the author of “Finding your purpose’ said, “Every single one of us is different. While our DNA is 99% the same as any other human, there are 3,000,000 differences between any human and every other human.”

The scientific discovery of the DNA has given humanity a deep insight into the uniqueness of every individual. Everyone is created with a DNA that is different from that of anyone else. Findings by psychologists show that, no two persons are exactly alike, not even identical twins.

Beside the fact that we are biologically designed differently, no two humans have exactly the same experience throughout life and if by chance they do, they can never internalize the similar experience in the same way. Their unparalleled perceptions of the similar experience would shape their lives in different ways and make them unequalled individuals.

I wholehearted agree with Gloria Stienem when she said, “I believe a unique core self is born into every human being; the result of millennia of environment and heredity combined in an unpredictable way that could never happen before or again.”

It is true that you are human, and other people around you are humans too, but you should never forget the fact that you are different. All men are your brothers, but you are unique. As an individual, you carry a signature style that is one of a kind. By signature style, I mean that aspect of you that people easily notice and often identify you with. When you meet a new person, and want to discuss the person you met with a friend or colleague, the feature you use in describing the person, which is the most memorable and often perceived by everyone who comes in contact with the person, is the person's signature style. Your signature style can be derived from the way you smile, walk, talk, dress, behave and your attitude in general. Some person’s signature style lies in their appearance.

Another way to consider a signature style is to see it as that thing that comes to your mind when you think of a person. When you hear the word rock for instance, the idea that will likely hit your mind is the word hard. When you think of a lion, you tend to link it to boldness. A friend once asked me to describe him in three words. Without much ado, I just described him as cool, calm and collected. If you see him in real life or speak with him on phone you can easily sense these qualities in him. He later confessed to me that people have described him severally using those words or their synonyms. People’s signature style can be funny, boring, energetic, accommodating, unassuming, reserved, calm, humble, arrogant and many more.

Every person you have interacted with and every experience you have had in combination with your biological make up have shaped you into the person you have become.

In ‘Scroll IV’ of his book, “the greatest sales man in the world,” Ogmandino wrote something powerful which reflects the uniqueness of every human being born into this world. He titled it, “I am nature’s greatest miracle.” Just like Og rightly claimed, You and I are nature's greatest miracle respectively. We are wonderfully made by God. Live special, walk special, perceive special and do special, because you are made special.