On Being an Original

It is said that "while an original is always hard to find, he (she) is easy to recognize." (John L. Mason)

It is my personal belief that everyone is a unique individual, as different and varied as our fingerprints, but many fear to step outside of boundaries set by their families or societies and "boldly go where no man (or woman) has gone before" by becoming a truly original entity. It's just too scary for a lot of us, and fear of failure forms far more destinies than dreams of glory. ("For glory gives herself only to those who have always dreamed of her." Charles de Gaulle)
Henry David Thoreau celebrated the ones who dare to be different when he said, "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
The key to becoming a distinctly different entity may be as simple as losing oneself in service to others, as Helen Keller noted when she said, "I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker." Mahatma Gandhi said, "Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory." And Mother Teresa said, "We can do no great things-only small things with great love."
Ralph Waldo Emerson noted that "character is that which can do without success," and John Wooden said, "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do," and he also said, "be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are."
Dr. Albert Einstein encourages us to use our imaginations to expand our horizons when he said, "When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge."
From a 1991 Reader's Digest article by W.H. Murray: The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help that would never otherwise have occurred. A stream of events issues from the decision, raising unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: "What you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
"Consider your origin; you were not formed to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge." (Dante, "Divine Comedy")
Do not be as Tagore wrote: I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument, while the song I came to sing remains unsung.
Dare to be different, dare to do what is good and right for yourself and your loved ones: dream the impossible dream and follow your star.