No One is Irreplaceable

Greetings Dear Reader,

I think that in every job I have ever had I have heard this at some point.  More often it was said to me about others.  Once during tech week of a theatre production the director lost it for no good reason and started screaming obscenities at a young woman in the cast. 

Another actor had unintentionally made a sound that drew attention away from critical action in the show.  The director wrongly assumed that it was the actress and launched his tirade in the wrong direction.  He would not listen to her protests that it was not her and the actor was too much of a coward to admit he was the culprit.

I stepped forward and informed the director that it was not the actress who had made the sound.  He was too far into the fervor of his anger to listen and turned his fury on me.  I had at least gotten him off the girl and that was enough.  Not having mastered my own anger to the degree that God’s grace has allowed me to at this point, I kept silent but he could see the rage building in me.

He had left anything substantive about the production and was indulging in speculation about the legitimacy of my forbears.  Something in my look must have quelled his resolve to keep attacking and he ordered the cast to sit in the house.  After we were seated he resumed his rant about the importance of getting everything right.

I took a seat at the back of the house seething.  I was already on the path of trying to master my own anger and knew that if I listened I would escalate things.  Instead I tuned him out and began to pray.  His wife came and sat next to me.  Her words were worse than anything he had done.

Quietly she said, “It would be a shame if because of your anger we had to replace her a week before we open. Then again, no one is irreplaceable.”  The girl had done nothing wrong.  My outrage at the injustice boiled over and I locked eyes with the woman.  She did not know me well enough to realize she had just poked a bear with the stick of injustice.

With all the rage that lurks within my soul I whispered in that screaming whisper that is so threatening, “If you or your husband do anything to that girl to hurt her further I will tell the whole world how abusive you both are to your casts..  My words will open a floodgate of people coming forward to attest to the abuse and your directing days will be over.  The girl did not even make the sound that set him off.”

I could tell she was unused to anyone pushing back and she retreated without a word.  The director ended his invective and we went back to work.  I saw the director and his wife talking quietly in a corner backstage.  For the remainder of tech week they both treated the girl, one of the leads in the show with deference. 

I recounted this because I have since realized something.  No one is replaceable.  We may fill a roll, play a part, or do a job that was once someone else’s. We may “fill the shoes” of someone lost or dismissed.  The truth, however, is that no one will do it just like you.  No one can replace you.  In all the universe each of us is unique. 

God makes it clear that each of us is designed by him.  There will never be another Aramis Thorn.  There will never be another Maxim, Bezel, or Christmas.  There will never be another Avalon.  It is my obligation to see every individual as the unique gift to the world that they are.  It is my duty to love the beauty and grace reflected in each of them.  I must honor the benchmark of the divine in everyone.

When I dismiss, reject, or hurt my fellow travelers I betray that uniqueness.  I squander the opportunity to revel in the greatness of my Creator.  I deny the pricelessness of the moment with another human.  It is not right to see anyone as lacking value, unworthy, or  replaceable.

I must treasure those whom God puts close to me and respect everyone that breathes.  I am required to love them all.  This I must do with all my heart.  Each one is more precious due to his or her uniqueness.  Each one is worthy of God’s blood and, therefore, my time, attention, and compassion.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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