"Yes, I Can!"

I come from a line of dedicated TV watchers, and Ben takes after me in that he'll watch any moving screen. His current preference is by a channel or something called Super Simple Songs, which churn out baby-friendly song clips. "The Ants Go Marching" is unfortunately stuck in both mine and Han's heads. 

One of the songs is "Yes, I Can!" It sort of goes like this: 

Little bird, little bird can you clap? 

No I can't, no I can't, I can't clap. 

Little bird, little bird, can you fly? 

Yes I can, yes I can, I can fly!

Elephant, elephant, can you fly? 

No I can't, no I can't, I can't fly. 

Elephant, elephant, can you stomp? 

Yes I can, yes I can, I can stomp! 

And so on. A list of animals that are asked if they can do something they can't, then asked to do something they can. 

It made me think of people. We aren't much different. Han and I joke about the lyrics from "Reading Rainbow": "I caaaan do ANYTHING!" Yeah, can you fly? Splat. Humans, without a motley of expensive and complicated accoutrements, can't fly. Doesn't make them less than birds, though. 

We each have our own abilities. It doesn't mean if someone lacks our gifts and possesses their own that we have to start competing. 

I'm an early bird. I bake with whole wheat flour. I can recite one Shakespearean sonnet by heart. Others thrive in the night, can make unicorn cakes, and do coding.

Ma believed that one can learn something from anyone. She left behind a tower of notebooks, scribbled with bits of information she gathered ranging from cooking to philosophy to child-rearing to homeopathy.  

I try to hold by the same belief, consciously being open to what others share. Sometimes it works; often it doesn't. It doesn't mean that their suggestion wasn't good, it just wasn't good for me. 

When our insecurities are in high gear, other people's skills and beliefs can be a threat. But like the many animal species out there, one person is capable of "clapping," but can't "fly"; another can "fly," but can't "stomp"; she can "stomp," but can't "swim." 

Let's focus on our unique abilities.