Different

      I once had a Vietnamese friend who was trying to tell me something about buying a bed or being given a bed, or something.  I couldn’t understand what she was trying to explain to me in her broken (and not always correct) English.  At the moment I had another friend walk by.  She was Korean.  I asked her to explain to me what my first friend was trying to tell me.  Her response was: “She is Vietnamese, I am Korean.  They are not the same!”

     She was very correct.  They were different; not alike in character or quality; distinct in nature; dissimilar; not identical, and so on.   I had to remember that.  Although both of the languages are oriental, they are not the same!  My friend was also helping me understand something else.

     For several years I was a fingerprint technician for the federal government.  I would spend the entire day comparing submitted fingerprint cards from various law enforcement agencies around the country to those on file with the FBI to see if I could make an identification of the individual to perhaps other crimes that had been committed.  It was actually a fascinating job! 

     For many years the Bertillion measurement system was used to identify one person from another.  This system involves the taking of many measurements of a person’s body parts.  You can get a better understanding at https://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/ojis/history/bert_sys.htm

     However, in 1903 a case involving William West and Willie West at a federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, changed the way that people were classified and identified.  It seemed that these two inmates had the same name, bertillion measurements, and bore a striking resemblance to each other.  Although they were ALMOST identical, they WERE NOT!  You can read this very interesting story at http://dh.dickinson.edu/digitalmuseum/exhibit-artifact/babes-in-the-woods/fingerprints

         That incident called the reliability of bertillion measurements into question, and it was decided that a more positive means of identification was necessary.  After 1903, many prison systems began to use fingerprints as the primary means of identification.  You see, NO two individuals have the same identical fingerprint patterns, not even identical twins!  So this became a reliable means of identification.

     You may have also heard that no two snowflakes are the same.  In explaining this there is a very good article: “Are Snowflakes All Unique?” at https://dickinsoncountyconservationboard.com/2018/01/22/are-snowflakes-all-unique/#:~:text=Are%20all%20snowflakes%20unique%3F,grow%20in%20a%20unique%20way. 

     It explains that snowflakes are formed differently, from different moisture, in different clouds, and so on.  So no two are created exactly the same. This same explanation can be applied to us as humans.

     We are all born with different genetic makeups and raised in different environments.  We have different experiences, goals, and values.  This makes us all unique in our own special ways.  We learn differently and live differently.

     But we must remember that different does not mean better!  A hand is different than a foot.  An eye is different than an ear.  But the difference does not make one more important or superior to the other.

     Think of the area of music.  There are so many different styles of music and people like to hear them.  Some have a preference of one over the other, but it doesn’t mean that either of them is better than the other, only different!

     If we can only learn to look past the differences on some occasions and embrace and enjoy the differences on other occasions, we may find that what makes us unique and enjoyable to be around are the very differences that we, on occasion, choose to use as divisive measures.  The stumbling block that we are, at times, unable to get over is that we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"It's our differences that should 

pull us together and make us one."