Oh, yeah?
One is the biggest number??
Read on!
At the simplest level, one is the first number we learn when we’re toddlers. That is not remotely sufficient to make one the biggest number, but it’s a start. And isn’t there something special about being the first? The first person ever to walk on the moon was Neil Armstrong. Only 12 more have followed. The first Black man ever to play Major League Baseball was Jackie Robinson. His parents were tenant farmers on a plantation in Georgia. Thousands have followed in Robinson’s courageous footsteps. The first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean was Amelia Earhart. She led the way for untold numbers of women pilots to fly all over the world.
The very first becomes an inspiration. A pioneer. A door opener. The first is rarely ever the last. Others are inspired and follow in the first’s footsteps.
Maybe we learn the number one first because each of us is the only (fill in your name) in the entire history and future of the human race. You and I are the very first and very last, there never has been and never will be another you…or me.
The only one!
One is getting bigger already.
I received a gift recently. It told a story of an archeologist who proposed a game to 20 young boys in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told them that whoever got there first would win all the fruit. He gave the signal to run, they all took each other’s hands and ran together, then sat in a circle and enjoyed the fruit. When he asked them why they chose to run as a group when they could have had more fruit individually, one child spoke up and said, “UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if the rest of us are sad?” UBUNTU, in the Xhosa culture means, “I am because we are.”
I is actually we when we release our egos and see who we truly are. Sure, I am me and you are you, but I am me only because of we. No one can be anything without we and we is an incalculable number.
We are all part of One.
Soak that one in.
One is becoming an even larger number now.
When we choose to let go of I, One is no longer one, and it grows exponentially.
A good example of the inaccuracy and limitations of the small number one shows up every day in our personal relationships. If it is only about me, there can be no we. It is only through we that you and I can continue to live, prosper, grow and learn.
We are a huge bees’ nest, each with our own important job while benefiting from everyone else’s important job. We are all part of this One and we can feel awe when we ponder the scope of our interdependence.
Truly, I am because we are!
This all takes us to the most important topic we can discuss: Gratitude.
The expression of gratitude is an acknowledgement of someone or something who helps me be me. Sadly, taking for granted is too often our culture’s norm. We forget to acknowledge all that allows us to be us. Taking for granted is a disease that you and I need to counter — every day, with vigor. Wake up and be thankful. Drive to work and be thankful. Lately, I’ve been thanking every driver on the road, knowing that each one of them is doing a job to benefit others. Go to bed and be thankful.
It is way too easy to forget what those young African boys inherently knew. We are all part of something much bigger. I could never even exist without we. It takes minimally two to make one—and that’s just the beginning of the reality of One.
Do the math:
Ego = 1, and that 1 is an imposter. It only exists in our brain, not in reality.
This formula is the truth:
One = ∞ = infinity
Dance on!
– Burt Gershater is a counselor, leadership trainer, speaker and writer. He can be reached at info@burtgershater.com.
This article appears in Source Weekly July 6, 2023.
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