First Edition

A very long time ago, one of my first self published devotionals had the preface that focused on being a first edition in the world.  I want to revive that concept in this blog post.

There are so many copies in the world, today.  Not just copies, they are copies of copies of copies and so on.  If you have ever had to make a copy of a copy, you will know that with each copy you lose a little of the quality.  It's like the phone game where people spread a message along from one person to another in a whisper, only to have the final message be nothing like the original message at all.  That is a very good analysis of gossip in the world, today, as well.

The point being, copies lose quality much like an outfit that has  been washed over and over.  It fades and becomes less special with each wash or each use.  

If you look at books that come out, the first edition of an author is raw, true, and a pure message of what the author wanted to convey.  Then, each new edition becomes less of that message to appeal to new readers, til the novel is old and discarded as being yet another novel of the same mundane, accepted storylines.  People WANT originality.  That is what drew them to the book in the first place.

Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, said "It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."  I definitely agree.

You were born with a unique flavor you can present to the world, hungry for creativity and boldness.  If you mute yourself to fit in, what was the point of your birth.  In Beautiful Creatures, the boyfriend of the main character asks her, "You are a miracle.  Why would you ever want to fit in."

So, my challenges to you is to not mute yourself to be a good faded copy of originality but be the original miracle you were born to be.  Acceptance was never the point.