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Be The One — By John Reed

Be The One
In warmer months, my flowerbeds grace me with blooms every color of the rainbow. Among the showiest are the irises. Their vibrant yellows and purples always delight.
All except one. For some reason, one iris blooms in late fall, around Thanksgiving time, long after most of the color has left the landscape. This one bloom is an iconoclast, eschewing its cohort’s traction. This One has beaten the challenges of drought and colder temperatures to share its glory when nothing else remains.
I’ve written here before about individualism and how our country is in many ways a nation of individuals, each with their story, their challenges, their dreams. The concept is even on our money: “E Pluribus Unum” translates to “Out of Many, One.”
The world’s philosophies and religions are filled with singular Ones who broke with tradition or made new ones: Confucius. Socrates. Jesus. St. Francis. Joan of Arc. Ghandi. Mother Theresa. Each in their own way chose a separate path than what was expected, to the benefit of humanity.
Are there any like that today? I like to think anyone can be a One in the right circumstances. Maybe not on a grand global scale like those people…sometimes seemingly little things have effects. A single act of kindness or refusal to accept an injustice may impact just one or a few, but to them it’s no less important.
This Christmas season, maybe one of you can be the One. For a child, for a family member, or maybe a stranger. A little extra in the tip box, a toy donated, or merely a kind word where one hasn’t been heard in a while.
And like my out-of-touch iris, bring some beauty into the world.

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