Day 8: A Peek Into Unique

This week my school is celebrating Unique Week: a period of four days where we celebrate all that makes us different and special. We read books (such as People by Peter Spier), have discussions, and write about all that makes us unique.

After I read People to my class, I asked, "Why do you think it's important that we celebrate being unique this week?" Of course the student had a variety of responses, all of which were heart-felt and demonstrated their understanding of the topic of uniqueness.

At the same time, I couldn't help but think about the wording of my question: "Why do you think it's important that we celebrate being unique this week?" 

Shouldn't we embrace our uniqueness throughout the year? Does only allotting one week (actually, 4 days) to this topic, in a sense, make IT unique? And, as a result, remove some of its significance? Does that, in turn, remove some of the significance from being unique in itself? 

I know, it's a spiral of 'What-if's'. But I do think that it's important to consider those what-ifs. We are different, special, and unique all year long. Mr. Geisel wrote, “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You." So, why not embrace it a bit more in morning meeting, read aloud, and writing? Why limit our capacity to be EXCEPTIONAL to only four days? It seems silly, doesn't it?