American children’s television show host, Mr. Rogers (Fred Rogers) had it right when he said: “You are special. And so is everyone else in this world.”

This simple little statement might be taken as trite, when in fact, it is quite profound if you stop to consider it and even more so if you live in a way that reflects it.

The magic starts when you first believe that you are special. If you believe that you are indeed special, then you will be motivated to try to reach your potential in life. You will feel your worth. You will strive to develop your gifts and talents. You will work hard at being your best. Lastly, you will have the confidence you need to see you through all of this because there will be a certainty backing up all of your efforts toward becoming the best possible you knowing that you are meant for greatness.

The perfect balance is the second part of his statment. If in addition to believing that you are special, you believe that everyone else is too, then the competition, fear, and threat are removed from your journey. You understand that everyone is special in their own unique way, and that everyone is of equal value and significance. Feelings of superiority or inferiority vanish, and you can focus on what your unique special qualities are without having to compare yourself to others or feel threatened by someone being ‘better’ than you. The need for approval or “winning” is removed from the equation and replaced with the need to serve. You become inspired to contribute and serve others as you recognize the equal value in them. You develop a feeling of interdependence with humanity in which you understand that you are there for them, and they are there for you.

At this level of thinking, you are able to reach your own individual potential while simultaneously helping others to do the same!

However, this marvelous statement or equation only works if both sides are believed and respected. And unfortunately many people can only truly grasp one side or the other of Mr. Rogers’ statement. We believe that we are special and that means that others are not, or we believe that others are special, but we are not. In either case, that power of interdependence is lost.

So, how do we embrace both sides? For some it may feel like they are opposites of each other, eg. ‘either you are special or I am, but both of us can’t be.’ We often tend to think this way because we are stuck in ‘either/or’ or ‘you versus me’ oriented thinking. If we can shift our minds to “AND or “WE” thinking, we are able to understand it and utilize it.

So, how do we make that shift? We change our mind! This is really the only thing we can change anyway. Luckily it is all that is necessary!

We start thinking “WE” when it comes to humankind. We start to change our perspective to that of a team rather than a competition. We take the time to notice how others contribute to our lives and we contribute to theirs. We realize the truth that scientifically, we as human beings are 99.9% genetically the same, and only 0.1% unique from one another. We become bound together by the higher percentage and unique and significant by the lower. We realize that we are the perfect team-united by our similarities and thus able to understand each other and strengthened by our differences as we each make our own unique contribution for the good of all. We remember that we are all valuable and worthy to be served. We see that we are all powerful in our individual contributions and even more so in our collaborations.

To quote Mr. Rogers once more…”We are all neighbors.” With observation and practice, “we” can become a new guiding perspective which can help us see the truth in Mr. Roger’s statement about how ALL of us are indeed special, and we can change our lives AND the world with this thinking.