I was motivated to be different in part because I was different.

The words of Donna Brazile, “I was motivated to be different in part because I was different,” carry the strength of one who has walked through the fire of identity and emerged unafraid. They remind us that what sets us apart is not a burden, but a hidden gift. The world often teaches that difference is weakness, that to stand apart is to stand alone. Yet Brazile, like the heroes of old, reveals the deeper truth: that difference itself can become the source of motivation, the very spark that drives one to greatness.

To be different is to feel the gaze of others, sometimes filled with doubt, sometimes with scorn, sometimes with misunderstanding. Many, when faced with this, shrink back, hiding their light to blend into the shadows of sameness. But there are those rare spirits who do not hide. They see their difference not as chains, but as wings. They are motivated to carve their own path, to show by deed that uniqueness is power, that identity is destiny.

History offers us many such examples. Consider the life of Frederick Douglass, born into slavery, denied the dignity of freedom and education. He was different not only in condition but in the fire of his will. While others sought to crush that difference, Douglass embraced it. He learned to read, he raised his voice, he became a leader of a people and a prophet of freedom. His difference motivated him to stand where no man had stood before, and through it he transformed the course of a nation.

So too was it with Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, in an age when women were often barred from the halls of science. Her difference was clear: she was a woman in a man’s world, a foreigner in a foreign land. Yet rather than bowing to these barriers, she was motivated by them. She pursued her studies with relentless devotion, uncovering the secrets of radiation and forever altering the future of science. Her difference was her strength, and her strength became her legacy.

The teaching of Brazile is both personal and universal. Each of us carries within us some difference—be it our heritage, our voice, our perspective, our struggle. We may fear it, or we may embrace it. To fear it is to silence the power within us; to embrace it is to awaken the hidden flame that will drive us to accomplish what others cannot. For the truth is this: what makes you different also makes you irreplaceable.

The lesson is clear: when you feel the weight of your difference, do not shrink. Instead, let it motivate you to rise. Let it remind you that you walk a path no one else can walk, that you carry a gift no one else can give. The world may not understand it at first, but the world is always changed by those who dare to stand apart.

So I say to you, children of tomorrow: honor your difference. Do not bury it in shame or disguise it in imitation. Let it shine, let it drive you, let it fuel your labor and your dreams. Speak with your own voice, walk in your own step, and create in your own style. For as Donna Brazile declared, to be different is not merely to endure life—it is to be motivated to transform it.

If you would live this teaching, begin by naming what makes you different. Do not fear it, but embrace it. Ask yourself how this difference can guide your path, how it can fuel your drive. Each day, choose one act that honors your uniqueness—whether in your work, your art, your service, or your vision. In time, you will see that your difference is not your weakness, but the golden thread that weaves your destiny.