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Be careful when trying to be extra unique: You may end up like this.

QUESTION: Are you unique? ANSWER: no

When I first had to deal with this question I can admit I got a little bit defensive. Ok, let’s be real. I got VERY defensive. Being unique is one of those things that feels like, “One of the POINTS of the whole thing.” Uniqueness is touching on meaning of life stuff. I was just reading some websites that were talking about DNA and stuff like that and that makes me want to brush my teeth again. Speaking of brushing teeth, how come it is so hard to find a firm toothbrush anymore? I used to be able to buy firm toothbrushes at Rite-Aid and places like that but nowadays I only see medium and soft toothbrushes for sale. Dentists sometime say that some people brush too hard and damage their enamel, so they don’t recommend firm toothbrushes. That makes about as much sense as an ATM. I don’t care if you don’t know how to brush your teeth, but don’t ruin it for the rest of us by suing companies or complaining about it.

Yeah, so the reason why you are not unique is because of a few reasons.

1: You have hobbies. If you have hobbies then that means there is stuff that you enjoy and tons of people do the same thing. So having hobbies makes you more of a joiner than anything else.

2: You have friends. Everybody has friends. And if you don’t have friends then you probably talk to yourself and that means you are your own friend.

3: You have unique taste. Wow. I bet when people start forming huge lines for ‘fried’ rice and they trade their gold bullion for clean water, your thoughts on the best type of sauerkraut is really going to set you apart.

4: You are smart. China is pumping out smart people faster than you can say ‘kielbasa’ so try again.

5: You drive a cool car. This one is tricky. The reason why I say it is tricky is because you can get a lot of attention by driving a cool car. Sometimes you can drive a car that is so cool that you feel like the only person on the road. But the problem is that the CAR is unique. Not you.

Now at first glance this may seem like a ‘negative’ article. But in fact it is not. Not being unique is a real blessing. And not trying to be unique is a boon that has a value greater than a mountain’s weight in extra credit.

Once a person doesn’t care about uniqueness, he or she can free up energy to do other things. In writing for example, I am putting the finishing touches on a science fiction short story. Now instead of trying to make a totally unique story or idea. I said to myself, “I want to write a story that puts an interesting twist on the theme of the good of the many vs. the good of the one.” And along with that goal, I wanted to include some technology and ethical issues that may face scientists and doctors in the near future. And overall, I feel very proud of how this short story is turning out.

But a few months ago I was working on the very same story and I kept getting roadblocks, because I wanted to tell, “A new story.” There is so much contrivance that happens either consciously or subconsciously when trying to create something new or unique. It’s all about just creating, and deal with the consequence after you polish your idea a little bit. If you end up stepping on someone’s toes with copyright or patent issues, then go back to the drawing board and start from scratch. Some of the best inventions are actually old inventions that are applied and modified to solve different problems.

-Tyler