There are approximately 8.3 billion people on the earth. Over 338 million live in the United States. Narrowing it down to where we live, there are nearly 12 million people in Ohio, over 36,500 people in Williams County and a declining population of 8,539 in Bryan. In all of that population, there are bound to be a few who have some “unique” physical traits and/or abilities.
Can you curl your tongue, rolling the sides up and forming a tube? This isn’t too unusual with between 65-81% of us having this ability. While we haven’t yet figured out what it is good for, we can at least demonstrate the ability if asked.
Pull your socks off and look at your feet. Is your second toe longer than them all? Congratulations! You are part of the over 40% of Americans who have this feature called Morton’s Toe, named after orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Dudley Joy Morton. Now put your socks back on!
Take a look at your hands and give a “thumbs up.” Most of our thumbs have a little bit of bend. But if you can bend your thumb naturally between 50-90 degrees, that’s called a Hitchhiker’s Thumb. Roughly 24.7-35.6% of Americans can do this. I was a bit surprised that I can take mine back to almost 90 degrees with ease.
Only about 1% of the population have this next characteristic that I personally think is
really awesome. It’s called heterochromia and it’s where you have either two different colors of eyes or one eye has two colors.
This is the same percentage of people who can lick their own elbow, a trait for which there isn’t a medical name. I know you want to try it. Go ahead but don’t hurt yourself. It seems that only those with hypermobility caused by something like Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome have this kind of flexibility. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
2 Samuel 21:20 describes a man with a genetic formation in his body. “And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.” Imagine having to outfit this fellow with gloves and sandals!
Another man with a unique characteristic is mentioned in Judges 3:15. “But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a 
present unto Eglon the king of Moab.” There are 708 million left-handers in the world. If you are one of them, it sounds like you are in great numbers. However, that only equates to 8.5% of the global population.6
There are perhaps thousands of unique body differences that are uncommon to the average person. If you possess any of these, it does not make you weird or deformed. It also doesn’t make you the guest attraction at the next party or get together.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being atypical. You have special and defining qualities that make you you. Thank God for those qualities, reminding yourself everyday that you are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:14)
1https://interestingfacts.com/rarity-of-physical-traits/?lctg=e6fd7449-4b4d-4d27-9340-7ad6e03075f2
2https://bioinformatics.csiro.au/blog/do-you-have-the-genetics-for-the-hitchhikers-thumb/
3https://udel.edu/~mcdonald/myththumb.html
4https://www.webmd.com/eye-health/heterochromia-iridis
5https://www.ehlers-danlos.com/what-is-eds/
6https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-asymmetric-brain/201908/8-new-scientific-findings-about-left-handedness
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