one of a kind

Rain, hail, snow, and ice;

All are different,

But when they fall

They become the same water

As the valley stream

~Ikkyu Sojun

Unique…the Oxford Language website notes that the origin of the word unique is the Latin word unus, ‘one’. Therefore, it could be understood that an unique person is one of kind, unlike anyone else.

Pondering “one of a kind” brings to mind snowflakes. The chance of the snowflake that lands on the tip of your nose being exactly alike another is about 1 in 1 million trillion. The life of this now melting snowflake began within a cloud, as a crystal. It is believed that throughout its journey it encountered variables of temperatures and moisture levels which transformed the crystal into a snowflake.

So, is one of the aspects of a unique person their life’s journey?

In my lifetime, I have met two people who I felt to be unique. They both had distinct world views that I often found myself stumbling through with wonder and/or confusion. Could it be said that another aspect is found within world views that are incongruent with others?

One of these two people was my brother. I believe that most people who knew him would agree that he was “one of a kind.” While our life journeys originated from the same family of origin, the family I was born into was composed of both our parents and older sister, while he was born into a family that was grieving the death of our father. One of many transformation variables.

Yet, I still ponder the aspects of uniqueness as one of these two invited a closeness while the other’s differences created a wall of discomfort. This leads me to identify that another aspect of uniqueness is its impact upon the relationship dynamics of push and pull.

Yet, I end this pondering with another question: is uniqueness more about my personal sense impressions of the other than it is about the other?