A rich and poor child attended school together. One day the wealthy one brought in a fine leather wallet. The other students gaped and were envious of the beautiful object. The other children began to their save money so they could buy one just like it. The poor one had no chance; it was hard enough to just get fresh pencils and a backpack. The child felt miserable…
That child went to the local storekeeper, put his meagre change on the counter and said, “This is all the money I have. Can I please have that wallet?”
“So you do not have another penny?” asked the owner. “Tell me, if you have no more money, what good is the wallet to you? You have nothing to put in it.”
The storekeeper makes sense. As adults we would say the same. And yet, there is a small inner voice that understands and empathizes with the cry of the child who yearns to be like everyone else, wants to have what they have, and does not wish to stand out as different.
The child has grown up but still struggles over the same issues. We want and cannot always have what want.
It has been said by many pundits and economists that the economic slump that we are in is largely due to living beyond our means. We wanted the lovely wallet, could not afford it, but got it anyway. Everybody felt the same way, including the banks. We went out and bought what we should not have purchased.
Looking around it is easy to fall prey to desiring what others have. Just watching television is an exercise in restraint as commercial after commercial tells us “If we order now….” We are barraged by billboards, ads on radio and on the Internet that imply satisfaction and contentedness if we -- along with the rest of the country -- buy what they are selling.
Sociologist George Ritzer has called this phenomenon the “McDonaldization of America.” In this new world everyone gets the same car, same house, same TV, and the same everything. One city looks like another and states lose their individuality until all America looks alike.
On an individual level, Talmud has a distinctly different idea. “Man strikes many coins from one die and they are all alike. The Holy One, blessed be He, however, strikes each person with the same die as Adam but not one is the same as the next.”* Not only does our faith tell us about the uniqueness of our formation but it declares we each play an indispensable role in the universe. In other words, we have special gifts that only we can give to the world. In the absence of that gift the world is incomplete.
What this all means is that we are not supposed to look for ways to be like one another. Instead, we are called by God to seek out our own destiny. Certainly, others will play a role in that process but it is our journey towards becoming whole, not theirs.
“According to the effort is the reward.”** Our task is to bring about the fullest self we can achieve. There is no one who can do this but you: you are one of a kind since the inception of Creation.
*Sanhedrin 38a
