Monday, February 06, 2006

Shaking the hands of one million and two

The pessimist in me says that we are not unique individuals. Instead there are twelve basic personality traits and we all have combination of them. While we strive to be original individuals, it turns out that we only emulate others around us. I can read a person at twenty paces. I know what they will say and do before opening their mouth.

I am optimistic to believe that it doesn’t matter if everyone is the same – what really counts is finding another person, in this cold and self-centered world, that thinks I am a unique snowflake, one of a kind, and interesting. Equally important is that I find the same in them.

Her name was Caroline. In the thirty seconds she spent setting up her booth next to mine I figured her out. After a quick introduction I placed the accent, from North Carolina. She dressed well, but too creative for a stuffy finance person, and to hip for a small town. Again, I was right, she lived in New York. Not married, kind of dating, college degree, and I am right three more times. When she tried to turn the tables on me, Irish, Catholic, New York, she could not have been more wrong (Scottish, Protestant, small suburbs.)

Don’t save the surprises, they set you apart.

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