"Different" isn't "Perfect"

I've had some great feedback on yesterdays post already.
Thanks!

Here's what I'm thinking today:
As one examines what different should look like, it's not merely being different for the sake of difference. Have you ever not bought something because everyone else had it, and you just wanted to be "different."
That's not anywhere close to the different we're talking about.

Nor is different about perfection.
When we aim for perfection we'll miss the mark every time.
Then we open the door for the oft invoked, and often rightfully so, "Hypocrite" comment.
The, "I'm not interested in Jesus because Christians are all hypocrites."

Of course many people, Christians included are raging hypocrites.
But that's a deflection.
Everyone is a hypocrite in many ways.
We all esteem some values and ideals we don't/can't live up to.
But that shouldn't stop us from pursuing integrity.
And of course, all one has to do is get to know a few Christians,
preferably Christians older and wiser and humble and less hypocritical than me,
to learn that not all Christians are hypocrites.

But I digress.
I think we can pursue being "different" as a value.

But it has to be grounded on a deeper belief.
The belief that I am not all I should be.
That we are not all we should be.
That the world is not all it should be.
It's acting on a sense that not all is right in the world, and therefore, I must be tuned into how things might be improved if they were "different."

For an individual one might say, "I must think differently about my wealth. Then, I must ACT differently in my giving/saving/spending habits."

Then we might say, "Collectively we must rethink our assumptions on poverty, then we must approach this issue differently as a church/community/nation."

When we read the bible, and in the case, especially Matthew 5-7 (the Sermon on the Mount), Jesus paints in broad strokes, but in very tangible ways, how all is not right in the world, and how we must be different. We must be salt in a world where decay in rampant. Light in world where darkness cloaks too many lives.

Hey, keep the comments coming.
What's the kind of different you need to pursue?
It may be something very personal, or very public.