One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn’t belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?
From Sesame Street song One Of These Things (is Not Like The Others)
“Not only did my identity seem tangible, it also appeared to contain a particular structure.”
From article: The Myth of Personal Freedom and the Meaning of Identity – by Larry Ackerman.
[Image from Flower Portraits by Joyce Tenneson]
One of the pleasures of our intellectual ability – even from an early, Sesame Street-era age, is in finding and making discriminations, often subtle ones.
And in viewing ourselves as unique and “not like the others” – so long as we’re not too painfully eccentric or outsider.
In her gifteduniverse post “I’m Not Like Other Gifted Adults”, Elisa raises some of these issues of identity.
Here is an excerpt from her post :
More often than not, if I suggest to a gifted adult that there are qualities that either all gifted adults share in common or qualities that gifted adults are more likely to have than non-gifted adults, this idea is met with skepticism or outright rejection.
I recognize that there is incredible diversity in the gifted adult population but I also know there is commonality. Otherwise, how else do we recognize other gifted adults pretty much instantly?…
So, I wonder, why do gifted people resist the idea that they share things in common with other gifted people?
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To read some commonalities, see Self-tests: giftedness / high ability
Also see the High Ability site for many more articles and resources.
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Related articles
Douglas Eby (M.A./Psychology) is author of the Creative Mind series of sites which provide “Information and inspiration to enhance creativity and personal development.”
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