Not One Alike
By Denise Bissonnette
Each of us is born into this world distinctive -
Like flowers, or stars, each one like no other.
Yet, at the core of what makes us different,
lies the universal… as ancient as mankind,
as common as mud.
Not one alike, yet none so very different.
While each of us comes in our own body,
Bringing an unrepeatable mix of facial features,
skin color, hair texture, and muscle tone.
We each inhabit a physical body
made of blood and bone, heart and lungs,
Each of us tracing new lines along our hands and around our eyes
as we watch our bodies grow, develop and age.
Not one alike, yet none so very different.
While each of us possesses a personal culture,
Our own cherished ways of viewing and celebrating life,
To some degree we are all products of our environment,
our hereditary, and the historical realities of our times.
While each of us cling to our individual versions
of truth, belief and doctrine -
holding to our own perceptions, precepts and prejudice -
We all share both the magnificence and the smallness of mind
from which these choices spring.
Not one alike, yet none so very different.
While we each come with our own songs to sing,
our own lessons to learn and our own paths to tread –
Each of us experiencing a unique blend of
Appetites, ambitions and anxieties,
Loves, losses and loyalties,
Dreams, doubts and disappointments
In all of our lives we will experience
enough sorrow to cry a river
and enough joy to give our hearts wings.
We are each troubled and challenged in multiple ways,
Full of beauty and brilliance in others-
Lifting someone’s burden in one moment,
Needing a burden lifted in the next.
Not one alike, yet none so very different.
But because our lives are taking place
In the greater backdrop of triumph and tragedy,
Merry-making and melodrama,
We share something even more basic – even more fundamental -
And that is the need for each other.
We’re in this together, in the same boat, pilgrims side by side,
Our connectedness is not a luxury.
It is the longing of our hearts to give ourselves away,
And in so doing, to share the incredible journey of living.
While we may forget from time to time to be kind,
to listen, to choose words and deeds carefully,
to give one another the benefit of the doubt -
We share the capacity, at any moment,
to re-open our eyes, our hearts and our minds
and extend the ultimate gift in human community – compassion.
For just as the flowers in the field belong to one another
And the stars are connected by the forces of the night sky -
Our lives our intertwined.
This connectedness, like everything else we share, is universal.
And while it may be as ancient as mankind, and as common as mud,
When recognized and realized, it is as stunning as love.
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