More unexpected gems

Hugh Jackman is the unlikely star of a new musical movie The Greatest Showman.  It is a bio of  Phineas Taylor Barnum, founder of the famous circus that travelled the USA from 1841 until it closed in May 2017.

From the beginning Barnum's troupe was criticised as a "freak show", featuring an assortment of unusual folk such as General Tom Thumb.  Justifying his actions, Barnum responded to criticism: "Everyone is special, and nobody is like anyone else. That’s the point of my show."  on another occasion he offered this gem: "No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else."

Maybe these were somewhat glib self-justifications, but when one stops to reflect they are profound truths. The limitless creativity of our God is reflected in the fact that every single person of the many billions who have lived is unique.  Even identical twins have their distinguishing characteristics. So much so that for even one of us not to have lived would diminish the richness of humanity.  Not so easy to grasp as we see almost faceless thousands fleeing their homes and facing starvation and oppression!

I suspect most of us would like to feel that in some way we could make a difference to the current state of our world.  But the the overwhelming enormity of the problems we encounter can easily trap us into being "like everyone else" -- powerless, helpless, uninvolved.  To make a difference we have to dare to be different, even if only in the smallest way.  A challenge that PT Barnum clearly saw!