The uniqueness of snowflakes and us

It is said that each of us has a twin in the world somewhere. I daresay that is true. If we are willing to dissect ourselves, we have hundreds of "twins" -- folks with identical hands, noses, or shapes.

But I have a theory. "Wanna hear it? It goes a little something like this..."

As grains of sand -- and snowflakes -- differ from each other, I submit that the one uniqueness that every person possesses...that is beyond duplication or "twin-ness"...is PERSPECTIVE. No one -- NO ONE -- sees, hears, tastes, considers, feels, takes in, smells -- perceives -- the universe exactly as each of us does.

Now each of us may enjoy our perspective; we may share it, lend it, or broaden it. What we likely cannot do with it is compete. My perspective would be ill-used to best any competitor. We all have perspectives as we all have lungs, life and hair -- none better than any other -- no rights or wrongs, superiors or inferiors.

Now that capitalism and competition are out of the way....

For me, perspective is the very heart of education. Whenever I am blessed to truly see the world, or some part of it, through someone else's eyes -- then my own perspective is broadened. As an educator, I consider it my life's purpose to share my own perspective -- to broaden the perspectives of others. As a reader...ah, as a reader!...and as a lifelong student, I have looked at life through the eyes of literally thousands of people, past and present. The tangential knowledge alone has been more than worth twice the effort! The areas of commonality -- and difference --in perspectives have literally defined the human experience for me. The process has been the exhiliration of my life.

I think that there is a difference between education and job training. We've all had to attend school, memorize facts, regurgitate process, and earn credentials on the road to self-sufficiency. Job training. Thankfully, many of us have remained at the center of our concentric and broadening circles of understanding our "self," the universe and the multi-faceted relationship between the two. Education.

In service to the system -- and often to our own survival within the system -- job training is important and useful. But is there more to life than life within a capitalist system? Here's wishing you and yours ... education.