Remarkable … December 28, 2012

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It really is quite simple.

To solve all the world’s problems is not a complicated cypher. All you have to do is decide between remarkable and re-make-able. Am I going to treat the human beings around me as remarkable individuals, or am I going to follow my culture in the continual, futile task of remaking them?

We are notorious for this. We meet someone for the first time, and before we know it, our brain is already trying to take them back to the drawing board, where God drafted their being, and correct the original design.

• We quickly discern if they’re too fat.
• On the other hand, we wonder why they’re so bony and skinny.
• We’re curious about whether that mole in the middle of their forehead makes them self-conscious.
• We notice skin color, although we fervently resist the inkling.
• “Pretty” and “ugly” leap to the forefront.
• “Nice” or “mean” is a split-second piece of discernment, with a vengeance of judgment.

We begin to reform them from the dustiness of our minds, evolving them into different creatures that we think would be better suited for life on this planet–especially in front of us.

Here’s the killer–we don’t even have to say anything. Our body language, our look, our deference and our avoidance speak volumes.  It puts people on edge.

Of course, meanwhile they are trying to remake us.

So when you take a world of remakers and thrust them together, they all piously begin to believe that if their will were enacted on earth, then it would truly be heavenly. To overcome such a dastardly practice, you have to decide to become a person who is looking for the remarkable.

It happened to me yesterday at the swimming pool. I went down for a quiet swim and a little exercise. Even though the weather was a bit chilly, I persevered and attempted to brave it. Just as I arrived, a mother with her four children came through the gate. Now, I want to tell you what my Midwestern, German upbringing immediately sprouted in my brain:

1. Darn it, here come some kids.
2. She’s a black woman. I hope she doesn’t think I’m fat and white.
3. Do I really want to get in the pool in front of a bunch of children under the age of ten?
4. I should have come down sooner.
5. Why is she looking at me so grouchy?
6. Is she noticing that I’m displeased?
7. Maybe the water will be too cold and they won’t stay long.

Now, none of these thoughts took very long–and as each one came to my mind, I was disgusted with myself for birthing the little boogers. But bratty thoughts will hang around until they are replaced with better offspring.

So I decided to converse with this woman, talk to her about her children and include the youngsters in surviving the frigid waters. It was beautiful. By the end of my visit to that pool, the dear lady had warmed up, even deciding to move from her perch where she had originally situated herself, surmising that it was going to block my exit from the waters into my wheelchair.

It was a massive success. But it did require that both she and I pursue finding the remarkable instead of pandering to our picky, nasty attitudes of the re-make-able.

Here is one thing for sure–people change slowly, even when they have to. So most certainly, they will never change because I want them to or even have a good suggestion. The only thing I can do to make my journey fun is to find the remarkable in what other folks want to view as the re-make-able.

So I don’t care if you’re black, white, red, green, gay, straight, atheist, Muslim, Chinese or Yorkshire terrier. It is my mission, as long as God gives me breath, to find the remarkable in everyone sent my way, and in the process, remove the curse of trying to remake the world around me.

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