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Creative Columns 19

You Are Special

No really, I mean it. You are special. And I feel it’s important to tell you. Why you ask? Well, because people don’t tell you often enough. Allow me to explain…

“No really, I mean it. You are special.”

We are all very keen on comparing each other and sharing our opinion on one another, but we rarely use the word special. Our expressions are always very modest, usually between not that good and quite good, at least when confronting someone. Nothing special here.

Society uses the term special referring to people who don’t fit

that which we consider to be normal. Case in point: the Special Olympics.

“Case in point: the Special Olympics.”

So we receive the tag normal and various variations in between. But who wants to be normal? Being normal in a creative world is like being a sheep in a herd: you are just one in a field of many, indistinguishable from all the other, destined to end up sheared, butt-naked and shivering in a corner of the field.

Hmm, maybe that last part was a bit overdone, but you get the point. Feeling normal can be quite depressing in a world

where normal is rated moderate.

There is nothing against telling someone they are special. You grant the person a pleasant feeling and provide him with a positive look on life, the universe and everything. This spur of enthusiasm can spawn magnificent thoughts, and that’s what it is all about: creating awe-inspiring things.

So don’t refrain yourself from calling someone special when his work or actions pale in comparison to Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Being special is merely relative.

Jan van der Asdonk