There is a quote in Hamlet that says, "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts."
I had an experience that reminded me of this quote just a few weeks ago. It was a Saturday night, and me and one of my roommates were bored. We decided that what better way to get us going on a Saturday night than by turning up the music really loud and just having a jam session? Anybody who knows me can tell you that once the music starts playing, it's inevitable that I will jam, regardless of sometimes looking like a fool doing so. As this was happening, I noticed that our blinds were open. I saw something green outside of the window, and walked over to investigate. To my dismay, I realized that there were a few boys standing outside of our window, watching me make a fool out of myself. At first, I was humiliated, but after a few seconds, I decided that I didn't care and that I was going to keep doing what I was doing. This event made me think of a very important life lesson: Someone is always watching, whether we know it or not and whether we like it or not.
Maybe it's just automatically built into our brains that being different is a bad thing. A lot of our lives, we strive to fit in. We make it a top priority to know what the latest fashion is and to know the latest trends so that we can fit in and not stick out like a sore thumb. But, what's so wrong with being different? To me, being different just says that you're standing for something that you believe in and you're not afraid to make that known to people and to make a statement. I have come to terms with the fact that I am different.
As the quote says, we all play many parts in our life time. I think that this is representative of the different stages that we go through in our lives. One of the most important stages that I remember going through in my life thusfar, was realizing that I was different, but that it wasn't a bad thing. I realize that part of being who I am is facing the fact that I am different, and that people will judge me for my beliefs. I think that the first time I started to realize this was a few years back when I was at an archery tournament. I noticed that as I was competing in this archery tournament, an older man was watching me. After a few minutes of this going on, the man approached me. We started talking about archery and then he did something that surprised me. He told me that I was different and that he had noticed, and he pulled a laminated card out of his pocket. He handed it to me and I sat there, looking at it for a few moments, not entirely registering what it said. It was a picture of a man on a ski lift, being lifted up and approaching the sun (the light). At the top of this card, it said "Don't lose your lift ticket." The man talked to me for a few more moments, and then for the rest of the tournament, he was nowhere to be found. At first, I thought it was so strange, that a random man would come up to me and do such a thing. I thought, "Of everybody competing in the tournament, Why me? Why did he come up and give this to me?" I then looked at the card again, and was instantly so grateful that this situation had occurred. The man taught me something that day, something that I don't know that I will ever be able to put my finger on. I just remember looking about that picture and thinking to myself "The gospel is my lift ticket, and if I lose that ticket, I will just be wandering around, not exactly sure what to do or which path to take."
As the second part of the quote mentions, "players have their exits and entrances." Part of growing up is realizing and accepting that there are going to be people in your life for a reason, but also that there are going to be people in your life that will disappear from your stage, never to return again. I'm thankful for the people in my life that have been on stage with me from Day 1, and also the new additions to my play, because each and every one of these people has taught me something important and helped me to find myself along the way.
We are each cast a role in the play of life, starting when we are born. We must try our best to be able to fit the role we have been assigned, but sometimes no matter how hard we try, our best is never good enough for the audience. We may sometimes slip up and forget our lines or be in the wrong place at the wrong time, leaving the audience wanting to throw tomatoes at us. Or, things can take an opposite turn and leave the audience giving us a standing ovation. However, through this process of learning to find ourselves, and play "our part," we are going to make mistakes. People are always going to be there watching us, every step of the way, so let's make the show worthwhile.
