Which aspects do you think makes a person unique?
What makes a person unique is rarely just one thing. It is more often the particular shape of their character.
People are not simple. They carry a range of qualities that do not always seem to fit neatly together. A person can be strong yet gentle, serious yet funny, driven yet patient, wounded yet hopeful. These combinations are not signs of inconsistency. They are often the very things that make someone deeply themselves.
Much of character is formed in the tensions people hold together. Some of the most impressive people I have known have not been the most polished or straightforward. They have been people of depth. People whose compassion sits alongside courage. People who are tender with others but firm in the face of injustice. People who have known pain without becoming hard. People who carry conviction without losing humility.
That is part of what makes a person distinctive. Not just their gifts or personality, but the way different qualities meet and mature within them.
There is also energy in these tensions. When they are well held, they can give shape to a life. They can become a source of direction and strength. A person’s uniqueness is not found in standing apart for the sake of it. It is found in the particular way their character has been formed, tested and held together.
Uniqueness is not just about difference. It is about character. That is what makes someone distinctive. Not that they are made of one striking quality, but that they are made of many, and somehow those many things become one life.
The Afterword 
Leave a comment