The Power of Being the Outlier

Naturalists have discovered something surprising about animal groups. Groups that are all identical, strong, and similar function less well than diverse groups. Bees with different personalities collect more food. Mixed flocks survive dangers better because it's actually the outlier who doesn't fit the pattern that notices what everyone else misses. Being different is not a weakness. It's the group's life insurance. And let's admit it. How many times have [music] we felt like the outliers? The last ones picked, the unpopular ones, those who don't fit in. The pain of being different. But what if what makes us not fit in is exactly what makes us essential? When the prophet Samuel came to choose a king, Jesse presented his strong and tall sons. David, the youngest, the shepherd, he didn't even bother to call, but God said, "For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." The rejected one, the one forgotten in the field, became the greatest king [music] in history. Science has proven that the different one saves the group. Samuel learned that God sees the heart, not the height. The holy one, blessed be he, does not measure us by the standards of others. He sees what no one else bothered to see. Let's not measure ourselves through the eyes of others. Let's remember who truly sees us.