MANY-SIDEDNESS

BY DR. LARRY MORRIS

Lawrence Leshaw once defined "normal" as "Someone I don't know very well." In spite of attempts to fit individuals into certain molds or categories, if we look deeply enough into human nature, we realize that human beings are not one-sided, but, like a diamond, have a multiplicity of facets. It's easy to sum up someone's character with a facile phrase: "He's cheap" "She's mean spirited" or so and so is "good-hearted." But in fact, we all have many sides to our character: we are driven by different and, at times, conflicting motives and purposes; we want to achieve our aims and fulfill our goals, yet we also want to be kind and generous. We want to find deep inner realization, yet we also want to be responsive to our family, friends and community.  We want to please others, and we also want to be ourselves. We can either despair at this lack of uniformity within our characters or, we can rejoice in the richness and fullness of human potential existing in each of us. As Walt Whitman said, "Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself; I am large, I contain multitudes."