The Story of Us

Once upon a time there was a place where everything was beautiful; full of color and light, happiness and peace. Everyday, each person did something that astonished the others. a witty young girl with long course hair would pick the sweetest berries, a sweet young man with two blind eyes would weave the sturdiest baskets, a sturdy old woman who always smiled would roast the finest dinner, a fine young mother who had the spirit of a dove created the most vibrant shelters, a vibrant old man who had never heard a sound taught young children the signs of their people. each person uniquely valued and completely accepted.

Eventually, the strangers came and brought no sweet young men, no sturdy old women, no vibrant old men; only witty young girls and fine young mothers along with their brothers and fathers. there were no sweet blind weavers, vibrant deaf teachers or sturdy cooks who couldn't help but smile. the strangers were not unique, they were instead very similar and quite unaccepting. Because of that, the people began to believe that what made them unique was no longer a trait to be valued but a feature to be discarded.

for centuries to follow there was a horrible struggle between those who were unique and those who were similar, the unique were forced to fit into the mold of a similar person but found it completely impossible, they just could not be similar; they were unique. their uniqueness was too inconvenient for the similar to handle, so they locked the unique ones away with accusations of lesser importance. even the similars sometimes gave birth to uniques and still refused to see their value. This place which use to be full of beauty, light, and peace, was quickly distorted into a gray mess of ordinary uniformity. any sign of uniqueness was given a label, those who were vibrant were seen as crazy, those who smiled with no reason were called insane.

Almost everyone had forgotten the way this place had once been, except the few who believed that uniqueness was valuable. these few treated the unique as equals and began to show others how wrong they had been to discard them. the people had been so lost in their struggle to be similar that they had forgotten the beauty of being unique, they had forgotten that a blind man can still learn, a deaf man can still teach, and a woman who smiles for no reason at all may be the one with the kindest heart. Until finally, the people understood what they had done, the place that was once so peaceful had become so broken and hurtful and bland. slowly the unique ones began to take the light again, they began to live beside the similars and even taught the similars how good it can be to be different. slowly the place became beautiful again.