Original Art

Rabbi Zusya, when he was an old man, said: “In the coming world, they will not ask me: “Why were you not Moses?” They will ask me: “Why were you not Zusya?” *

Ever since I was young, I've loved being surrounded by art. Looking here and seeing one painting, and there another, has long fed my (A.D.D.) soul. To this day, my home and office are filled with art. “Nothing has changed,” I recently thought, until noticing one important change. I no longer own any prints, only original works of art.

I share this not to judge or put down those who own and enjoy prints, but, for me, I grew more and more interested in works of art that are one of a kind. To gaze at a painting of which I know there are no others lifts its value somehow, and I do not mean monetarily. It hangs on my wall as a unique piece, saying what only it can say.

I increasingly feel the same way about people. I have long believed that we are created unique works of art, but I remember trying very hard to be anything but. In high school (and beyond), I wore what others wore, used expressions common to my friends, and behaved as they did so I wouldn't stick out. It made me feel safe and offered a temporary sense of belonging. Looking back, I can see I was trying to be a print rather than an original work of art.

Later, when I graduated from college and began a career, I quickly headed to Brooks Brothers to buy suits and shoes to look like others. I even began wearing suspenders (which would have been fine if I worked at a private equity firm and not the public television station). Had I needed glasses, I'm sure I would have bought tortoise shell glasses and maybe even put mousse in my hair to complete the façade!

It’s embarrassing to admit, but I was desperate to be a print . . . one like others, rather than one of a kind. I denied strengths and hid limitations, but those are the very brushstrokes (pun intended) with which I've been painted. Looking back, I can see how much energy I spent trying to be a print.

Maybe it’s the stage of life I’m in, or my longing for deeper water, but I feel we are all called to be the people we were created to be, and say what only we can say. We are all endowed with strengths and limitations, just as we have stories of success and failure. Why not claim them all? Why not share them with others? Instead of looking and seeing what others do, say, or possess, we should look within, discover, or rediscover, what is uniquely us, and then offer ourselves for all to see and know. When framed in grace, all that we are becomes a wonderful work of art.

Yes, I know some around us might roll their eyes or question such self-exposure, but I have no doubt the one who created us in the first place will dance and celebrate that we are finally being the one of a kind works of art we were created to be. 

* From Parker Palmer's book Let Your Life Speak.