Which aspects do you think makes a person unique?

I’m boring. It’s something that defines me. I like to read, solve puzzles, play games and watch movies. Generally I prefer what’s going on in my head to the world around me. I never fit in with kids at school, never really fit anywhere. Sometimes there is a group of oddballs that become my environment, giving me some sense of belonging but my view of the world, my hesitation to take unnecessary risks and my lack of desire to act silly make me boring.

I’m not ashamed of who I am though. I’m likeable and can have a laugh with people. Everyone has a way of being and a path to create for themselves. Surely without people that don’t fit as normal, fun types everybody would be the same. The world would be a bit dull because everything would fit together a bit too well. Oddly enough, The Lego Movie is probably the best example of this idea of being different making a difference; in The Lego Movie all the builders are built to be the same but one energetic character stands out from the crowd, as you can guess he is the main character whose adventure we follow as his uniqueness saves the world.

As someone with a different view of the world than most I’ve learned to look at things differently. I’ve become fairly open minded to a lot of things, but largely things under my control. I’ve tried Vegan fish, I tried a version of Golf once, I’ve tried other different hobby activities, I’ve learned what it is that makes me tick. I’ve learned a bit about other people, started to understand them and how best to interact without losing a sense of who I am. I may be boring by some peoples standards but I’m always finding ways to keep things interesting by mine.

Then we’ve got the obvious thing about appearance and how we are in the world that makes us unique. Think of anybody you know and give them broad descriptors, I’d be the short, ginger one if someone was trying to describe be as where I live those things generally set me out from the crowd. I’ve known Black people, Asians, Eastern Europeans, people with glasses, blondes, brunettes, people wearing red, people wearing blue, tall people, short people, fatties, skinnies and so many more. To describe people we use whatever sets them apart and while it may feel a bit offensive to use this method think realistically about how that does physically set them apart from a crowd, making them unique.

Just to dip into a modern social/political issue here: The removal of physical descriptions like calling a character fat or ugly in a book takes away from the charm and uniqueness of a character. Augustus Gloop for example isn’t enormous as that could be tall or muscular, he’s fat because of greed. It’s possibly mean to use fat but the image is there a lot more accurately than modern changes. Ugly for some characters, it’s useful for plot to have ugly and evil be synonymous, then have the ugly or unusual looking character be a red herring to a real villain who’s a good looking charmer. There’s no shame in being described with negative traits as that’s something unique to you which often an individual can change with effort. I remember a boy at school as the fat kid but I remember him, how he was added to his experience making him who he was and it’s great that his unique physical form made him memorable.

I mentioned Eastern Europeans before, you can’t always be sure without asking to get an exact nationality but an accent is something else that helps to identify people. I have my hometown accent but I naturally talk quietly. I work in a busy environment so my natural quietness doesn’t always help but as a new starter, if the boss asks colleagues what you’re like to work with and they say a bit quiet then it’s something unique. Arguably, I need to work on it and get louder but I’m functional, just like a fat Augustus Gloop could lose weight but was still healthy enough to function so it wouldn’t have bothered him.

Everything about us makes us unique. Who we are, what we are and how we look, sound or even smell. Our experiences help us grow and we are allowed as much shame or pride in our traits as we desire. Yes, I’m boring but I’m also one of a kind, a limited edition that’ll be hard to replace.

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Just a side note: I made a typing error writing this at first “what we arr.” Arr, I’m a pirate.

I know, odd humour but it’s unique.