“So what makes you unique” on those college questionnaires and the like. Even though I’m already in college, I’ll probably have to answer such questions again in the future. The truth is, no one thing makes me unique. No one thing makes anyone unique. We are all human, we all have diverse interests and desires. We sometimes we take interest in two completely unrelated things. Sometimes we are very talented in certain areas that many are talented in. Most are talented in a few things that have no bearing on each other. Very few have an accomplishment or an experience that no one ever has before.

What makes people unique isn’t their traits, it’s how those traits combine. When my friend felt sad like a failure, I would try to cheer her up by listing her awesome talents and accomplishments in other things. However, it never felt right, and she would counter “oh, but a lot of people are good at singing. But a lot of people are good at art.” And she was right. But no one is good at singing or drawing like she is, because she has her own unique style.

People are greater than the sum of their parts. I could put together a human, piece by piece, until every part was there and it’s still wouldn’t be a person. It be a weird amalgamation of parts. But no two living humans are alike because of some indescribable way that their traits and talents and desires come together to make them “them,” to give them their style of doing things. Reducing someone down to just traits fails to capture the whole person. We all know Einstein for his genius in science, but how many know he had depression? We never really knew him at all, we just know his accomplishments.

So if you find yourself in a similar dilemma, take heart. No one trait defines you. No one trait makes you unique. You are greater than the sum of your parts. You are unique because all your traits and talents and desires and successes and failures and experiences all come together in a way that no other person has truly experienced before, or ever will again.

Then try to somehow incorporate that into your answer about maybe your favorite trait, or your most apparent or the most out there. Good luck.

 

by Pidgeapodge from reddit

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