Many of us tend to look at the world in terms of absolutes. There are people who are smart, and there are people that are not. There are people that are winners and there are people that are losers. Successful people and non-successful people. If we find ourselves on the bottom of one of those sides what can I do? That’s the hand I was dealt. Woe is me!
In Parashas Shelach it says: “There we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, descended from the giants. In our eyes, we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes.” (Numbers 13:33). When encountering what seemed like giants, the Jewish spies that were sent into Israel perceived themselves as grasshoppers. As a direct result of their self perception, “and so we were in their eyes.”
The Torah is telling us an interesting fact. We control the way we are perceived. All too often, we get down on ourselves. We are just not good enough, or smart enough, or whatever “you fill in the blank” enough. We like to think that this is out of our control, but we have to see ourselves in a different light.
I recently heard something that I found very profound. A presenter is in front of a room of people, and says “I have a $20 bill to give away. Who wants it?” The people in the crowd raise their hands. The presenter takes the $20 bill and crumples it up. He asks again “Who wants it now?” The hands stay up. “How about this?” he says. He throws the bill on the floor, and stomps on it. “Who wants it now?” All of the hands stay up. He goes on to explain that the reason everyone’s hand is still up is because the $20 bill retains its value even when crumbled up or stomped on. So too with us, even when we have a hard day, or a business fails, or a relationship ends, we retain our value. We are not defined by that difficulty we are having.
You might say, “Ok, Nadav, I hear what you are saying about the $20, but I don’t feel special.” For that, I will tell you something else I heard recently. It blew my mind. Have you ever seen someone that you felt was beautiful and amazing. You thought to yourself, that is exactly the person I would like to be with. They have all of the characteristics that I find to be special. This person is a masterpiece built by Hashem. How many times have you seen that person on a bus, or at a store, or somewhere else, but then thought that there is no way you could ever speak to that person. Go and introduce myself? HA! That person is out of my league! Stop of a moment and consider how many times you were that person for someone else…..
You are special. You are awesome. Don’t let the troubles of the day get you down. You must realize that you are far more special that any of that. You are a masterpiece created by Hashem.