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August Fackler
Professor Hasler-Brooks
Created and Community to Community
May 9, 2016
A Box of Crayons
Do you remember back when you were a child playing with crayons?
You drew without regrets or restrictions, unconcerned about how you were
supposed to draw or by what everyone else was doing. Drawing outside of
the lines and discovering a new pictures that werent there before, in your
innocence you were able to be who you were meant to be. Your crayons were
also exactly as they were meant to be. Your greens didnt try to cover
themselves with yellow streaks because they thought they were too sour,
and blue was never dressed in purple just so that people would find him
happier. Your colors were individual, and by using all of them you were able
to create a wonderful picture. Maybe crayons dont always get along, orange
clashes with green when theyre both shining bright, but when they learn to
work together it is a wonderful thing. Why then cant we be as unashamed as
a crayon? It was something we were once capable of, something we were
programed to do, we brandished our colors for the world to see. Obviously
there will always be conflict over which color is the favorite but we can learn
to love and accept every corner of the crayon box. We were created to be
individuals which is a beautiful thing, but the mere act of individualism is

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such that breeds conflict and disagreement. It is our goal to be true to

ourselves while living and working harmoniously together.
People were created to be individuals. No one can paint a masterpiece
with all their paint in one bucket. The colors all blend together, and the
canvas ends up a big black mess with no definition or effervescence. People
come in countless colors with an endless variety of different gifts and
callings. In Genesis of the Old Testament we are told of how, after God had
created the land and the creatures of the world, he toiled in the earth and
made man with care and purpose (Genesis 1:1-2:25). This single act of love
has endowed upon us so much opportunity; God took the time to embody
within us potential, curiosity, and even some of His own capability to create.
We simply need to be true to our creation and embrace our individualism.
Jerry Sittser, professor of theology at Whitworth University, tells us that we
should look within ourselves to see what motivates us"(Sittser pg. 238). He
thinks that we can find our true calling by looking inside and pursuing our
talents and ambitions; the pursuit of our true inner-self is the best way to
fulfil our worldly purpose. This only makes sense considering that these
talents and skills are what had been gifted to us. Its these aspects of our
person that make us individual and, in the words of Professors Douglas
Jacobsen and Rodney Sawatsky, "our biology and life histories have provided
us with different sets of gifts and talents and with different burdens to bear"
(Sawatsky and Jacobsen pg. 40). Everyone is gifted and blessed in their own
way, and this lets everyone contribute a little differently to the big picture.

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But just like the crayons, we cant fulfill our purpose if were afraid to be
ourselves. We have to embrace who we are to properly leave our mark in the
big picture
Being who we are can be very difficult and frightening because shame is
a very human emotion. No matter how wonderful our true self may be, we
are cursed to be worried and ashamed of what we are and that we may not
be included or accepted because of it. Sometimes it seems that the gifts we
possess separate us from others, make us different, or even isolate us. Being
an individual inherently makes communication and collaboration more
difficult because the less we have in common with someone else the harder
it is to connect with them. As recorded in The Journal of International
Business Studies, it has been found that ventures between Asian and
American companies struggle greatly, and even fail entirely, because of a
lack of commonality between the two parties (Journal of Business Studies pg.
729). There just isnt enough ground that the two parties can tread together.
People from the two opposing cultures are raised to handle social
confrontation in such different ways that there is simply a lack of connection.
This makes for an environment were its easy to get frustrated or angry and
sadly that same earlier feeling of shame can develop into one of contempt
for the opposing party. People that we cant understand and communicate
with frighten us because they are outside individuals. We desire to have
people around that are similar us in some way so that we can connect with
them and dont stand out. Studies by the likes of Professors Anthony G.

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Greenwald of The University of Washington and Thomas F. Pettigrew of The

University of California have found that people are predisposed to show
greater kindness and favoritism to people who possess greater similarity to
themselves (Greenwald and Pettigrew). This is most likely why people so
often form communities with those who are called or gifted in similar things
as themselves, because they dont want to feel alone.
But wait, if being an individual is an action that naturally separates
people and makes it harder for them to accept each other, does that mean
we have to be alone? Human beings are not creatures that wish to be, nor
were ever made to be alone. As individuals and creative imaginative beings
it is alright for us to feel lonely. Famous writer and poet James Weldon
Johnson conveys to us the idea that even The Great Creator, in whose image
we were made, felt alone. In the poem The Creation Weldon imagines God
toiling, searching for an escape from His solitude, until He eventually toils
over the earth to created humankind and fulfills His loneliness (Weldon pg.
20-22). Its not as if loneliness is a sinful thing by any means, its natural for
us to seek out and rely on others. In fact, while we were created to be our
own persons, we were also just as much created to seek out companionship.
In Genesis one of the very first things that God did after creating man was
then go and create that first man a companion (Genesis 1:1-2:25). This
single act should be more than enough to show that humans are not created
to be lonely creatures. While we are created to be single original entities, we

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are also meant to exist and work together. So to be yourself is to be an

individual, but to be a human being is to be part of a community.
It can be seen now then how it could be good to be like a crayon. To be
your own color but still remaining and doing your own special part for the
world. Unfortunately doing so peacefully is easier said than done. Earlier it
was examined how the pursuit of individualism is a path that naturally
breeds some conflict. Not everyone believes or feels the same so obviously
everyone is not going to agree with everyone else. To learn to accept each
other and exist in harmony we must do as Martin Luther King had done and
become an extremist of love, truth and goodness (King pg. 161). Due to
their inherent flaws and sins as well, the only environment that people could
truly be themselves in would be one of love and trust. Not only that but, we
also have to try and embody the kind of love that The One that shaped us
and our gifts would have for his children or, as Sawatsky and Jacobsen would
say, a gracious love (Sawatsky and Jacobsen pg. 17-26). This means going
out of your way to try and love and understand the gifts of every crayon you
encounter, not only those of a similar hue. Its easy to just connect with
people that we can find similarities with, and neglect the rest of the
community, but in the end that is just a form of discrimination though
selective favoritism, and isnt how we must express our love and trust
(Greenwald and Pettigrew); A great artist must see equal value in all of his
colors. We must pursue all our relationships in the way that we would
approach our friendships. Particularly we must do as Paul J. Walden, Professor

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of religious studies at St. Norbert College, has observed and recognize that
our friends are just as flawed and fractured as we are (Walden pg. 198-202).
If we can understand that everyone has flaws then we can much more
readily forgive and pursue and gracious and accepting love.
We want to be like a box of crayons. You want to have your own color,
whether it be a calm and curious blue, or a proud and passionate red. Dont
let anyone tell you that youre the wrong shade or hue because everyone has
a way to add in their own splash of light. The world is a vast and vibrant
canvas, not some boring rendering of gray and black. It is a beautiful picture,
with sunsets of shy yellows and brash oranges setting on green fields filled
with intelligence and caring. All people were created with different talents
and abilities and so they are all called to contribute in different ways. It is
then our jobs to be the best mes that we each can be, so we can each
color in our part of the picture. We should not aim to be one great whole, but
more so one great community of individual creations. That way we can fill
the world with the countless colors of creation. Maybe we were made to be a
box of crayons, because the world isnt as beautiful in monotone.

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Works cited
"Genesis 1:1-2:25." CCC Reader (2016): 2-5. Print.
Greenwald, Anthony G., and Thomas F. Pettigrew. "With Malice toward None
and Charity for Some: Ingroup Favoritism Enables Discrimination."
American Psychologist 69.7 (2014): 669-84. Web.
Jacobsen, Douglas G., and Rodney Sawatsky. Gracious Christianity: Living the
Love We Profess. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006. Print.
Johnson, James W. "The Creation." CCC Reader (2016): 20-22. Print.
King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Letter from Birmingham Jail." CCC Reader (2016).
Print.
Morris, Michael W., Katherine Y. Williams, Kwok Leung, Richard Larrick, Teresa
Mendoza, Deepti Bhatnagar, Jianfeng Li, Mari Kondo, Jin-Lian Luo, and
Jun-Chen Hu. "Conflict Management Style: Accounting for CrossNational Differences." Journal of International Business Studies 29.4
(1998): 729-47. JSTOR. Web. 7 May 2016.
Sittser, Jerry. "Distinguishing Between Calling and Career." CCC Reader
(2016): 238+. Print.
Wadell, Paul J. "Shared Lives: The Challenges of Friendship." CCC Reader
(2016): 198-202. Print.