Being inspired by the words of Cornel West as delivered during a lecture at Harvard University during April of 2010 I wanted to share some thoughts with you. You have become my confidant and whenever I have something worth sharing it is with you that I want to share it.
Who are you Courtney? And what will you become? We have talked about this before but it is a question that we should never allow to slip from our minds. You must continually struggle with yourself to find who you are and what makes your life significant. Concerning this, the first thing that must be acknowledged is that though these are two different questions, “Who are you?” and, “What makes your life significant?” they carry with them an inherent connection. It is who you are that makes your life significant. It is the sacredness of your individuality that gives you value.
When you ask yourself, “Who am I?” the most basic answer you can give is, “I am human.” Although this answer is more concerned with what you are rather than who you are, it still leads in the right direction I think. If Cornel West is right, the word human comes from the Latin word humando which means “burying.” The common characteristic of all humans is that we are all destined for the grave, we will all be buried. Dust we are, and to dust we shall return. The first part of knowing who you are is knowing what you are, and what you are is human. Temporary. Dust. But you must not stop there. You are more than that.
“Human” is such a broad term and value, or significance, is not indicated by such broad terms. “Rock” is a descriptive term but it does not indicate the intense value that the more specific term “diamond” does. A diamonds is a rock, yes, but it is different from all others and therein lies its significance. It is special, individual, and separate from all other rocks, making it rare and thereby making it valuable. It is true that you are human but that is like calling gold “mineral” or a diamond a “rock.” Even then this analogy falls short because there are billions of diamonds, billions of rocks that share the quality of being what we call diamond, but there is only one you. You are an individual. You are Courtney Folhos, and that is quite a rare thing. There is, and can only be, one of you.
All of this taken together teaches something very important. The most significant people in history have been the most unique. The most significant lives that have been lived were lived by those who magnified their individuality the most during the short time that was allotted them by their humanity. Louis Armstrong is significant because he brought a new kind of music to the world, and he did not do it by attempting to be “significant”; he did it by being himself. He played the music that he liked. He played what appealed to his ear, regardless of what the rest of the world thought to be “good music.” Louis Armstrong took what was unique to him, made it bigger, enlarged it, exercised it, and that is now what the world remembers.
Vincent Van Gogh simply drew what he saw. Yet, one look at Starry Night will show you that he saw differently than other people. He painted it anyway. During his lifetime he was not what we would consider a “successful” artist, yet he is now considered to be one of the most significant artists of all time. What made him significant? He was an individual. He showed us all who Van Gogh was and how he saw the world. He magnified his individuality. I know very little about art and yet I do not find it difficult to identify his paintings because they are unique. Vincent Van Gogh was himself, and for that he is remembered.
All of this talk of individuality, be it easy to write, is not so easy to perform, for at least two reasons. One, it means that you must know yourself, and that is a very difficult thing to do. Two, you must act upon what you know of yourself. The first of these takes discernment and the second requires courage. A.G. Sertillanges wrote, “Great men seem to us men of great boldness, in reality they are more obedient than others.” Once you know yourself as you are in reality, as you are in truth, will you obey that truth? Will you magnify your individuality? T. Alan Armstrong said, “If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you, and you will find great things happen for you, to you, and because of you.” All of us share the common characteristic of being human, but it is our individuality that gives us our purpose, and the same Book that tells of our commonality immediately thereafter tells of our individuality. We are all created in God’s image. That is our common lot and is characteristic of all mankind. But the Book goes on to say, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.” The differences in man and woman are that which gives them their purpose. The greatest husbands and fathers are those who magnify their differences from women and thereby fulfill the purpose for which God created them. Just the same, the greatest wives and mothers are those who magnify their differences from men. Men who try to be less of what they are, that is, less masculine, make poor husbands, fathers, and altogether they make poor men. Likewise, women who try to be less feminine, make poor wives, mothers, and altogether they make poor women. God created us to be different for a purpose. The world is bettered by our individuality, not our conformity.
Be who you are. You are yourself and there can be no other you. You are a diamond. Know yourself, and then show it to the world. I leave you with this quote from Walt Whitman that you and I both know well: “O ME! O life! ... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish…what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here—that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on; and you will contribute a verse” What will your verse be Courtney? Find who you are, and have the courage to follow it.
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