And One Person's Only
Uniqueness. It's a word that is so valued at a surface level in our culture, but that is a value I have found to so seldomly to have much truth to it. Everyone is unique, everyone is special, every person is different, and their differences should be seen, heard, and treasured. We use these and other over-arching themes in our culture so regularly that it can be quite easy to miss the fact that we don't mean any of it at all. In reality, our culture doesn't value unique thought. We are actually near militant in our relentless impulse to squash anything that isn't a part of the value structure we hold to. We are so often reflexive in battering new expressions that we rally whole groups of people to crush them. Whether it is seen in a protest to ban a confederate flag from any public display, or the uproar of delight in a crowd of thousands of people when a presidential candidate gloats at the failures of one person who kneels during a nat...