"If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise." ~Johann von Goethe
I read a short story by one of my favorite writers, J. California Cooper, which she described it as the letter “Y” story.
The plot consisted of one man and one woman leading miserable lives, worlds apart. Besides their awkwardness, what the two have in common is a longing to belong, despite the rejection they received from their neighbors. The two endured harsh comments about their outward appearances, intelligence and social status. At the peak of the ridicule, both began to retreat to the privacy of their own homes.
There, the woman kept searching internally for reasons to love herself. She rationalized that many of the things the community shunned were not within her control. She went on to create a home environment that was loving and peaceful. The young man, instead, decided to find a place where he could be accepted. He packed his things and began his search.
This is the point in the story where the “Y” connects.
The young man arrived in the woman’s town and was eventually hired as a handy man to fix things in her home. The more time he spent fixing the woman’s home, the more beauty he noticed. He began to count her amongst the things that awed him.
It took her awhile to trust the sincerity in his compliments. (She had been hurt and rejected for so long.) But his persistence finally convinced her of the deep affection he had for the very same things she had been teased about previously.
As the two fell deeper in love with one another, they secured a place within each other that was warm and accepting. When the community viewed them, they still saw the same displeasing flaws, but they couldn’t deny the love and joy between the two. Many had a hard time concealing their envy.
Think about this in relation to the judgments others place upon you. Are you suppose to conform to someone else’s idea of what you should look like, or how your dream should be mapped, or who you should love, or how you should make your money? Or are you going to, instead, create the circumstances that will enable you to bloom the way God intended? Remember, you are in control of your character development. Use your divine right to choose wisely.
--Chezon Jackson
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