I was sitting in my office today and I wondered what it is that sets me apart from you or the rest of the planet.  My name is ‘Matthew Williamson’, but how many other Matthew Williamson’s are there out there?  Google found 3,560,000 references to my name on the Internet.  They are clearly not all me.

I’m six foot four inches tall, with broad shoulders, shaved head and a tattoo; but there are millions of people my height, some of those people are broad shouldered, some of that group shave their head and then some of those even have a tattoo; so that isn’t something that sets me apart and makes me special.

I consider myself a Buddhist Christian, but I know others who count themselves the same way, so that isn’t it.  What makes me different from you?  Is it all of the things in my life added together that makes me special?  Is it my job plus my family plus my personality plus my physical attributes plus my history?  Does the sum of those things make me unique?

OK, sure it does, no other person has lived my life.  But how does that make me any different from anyone else on the street?  I don’t think it does.  Not at all.  So I am unique, but not different.  I am special, but not better, perfect but flawed.

I do know that the people in my life, the ones I know well, I find them all wonderful and complete.  There is nothing about them that they cannot fix with meditation and attention to themselves, which is all most of us really need.  My family and friends, they know I love them and that I am thinking about them during the day.  They know that I place them in high esteem in my life, and other that showing them compassion, what more can one human really offer another?

I think we are all the same.  We all want happiness, which is really just the absence of suffering.  We all want that for our loved ones and friends, and the rest of humanity if we give it a moments thought.