Deep passions can serve to divide us, including politics, religion, race, and others. And yet, we are all interconnected. In what ways?
While it might seem that there are seemingly endless ways to be different from one another, in reality we all depend and rely on each other. This is true despite our beliefs, biology, or background.
It might be tempting to think that you have little in common with a neighbor who votes for a different political party than you. And yet, you are both part of the same community. Everyone has a role to play in that community to make sure it works for us all.
Maybe you pray to a different divine being than someone in another country. You might not even speak the same language, literally. But we all live on the same planet, under the same sun, moon, and stars.
Surely you are drastically different from a member of another species! Maybe one is a mammal, and the other is a plant, or perhaps an insect. Yet, we are all part of the same ecosystem.
When so much seems to divide us, it can be helpful to think instead about all the things we have in common. And even if we lack commonalities, we are interconnected in many different ways.
What are some of the ways you are connected to the person across the street? Across the country? What ties you to the animals that visit your backyard at night? What about the fleas that live on those animals? Or the water in the ocean? How are we interconnected?
Related questions: How are humans like other animals? How are they different? What do we have in common? How do you strengthen a connection with someone?
This is from the National Institutes of Health: “Between any two humans, the amount of genetic variation—biochemical individuality—is about .1 percent … [A]ll humans have a great deal of their genetic information in common. These similarities help define us as a species. Furthermore, genetic variation around the world is distributed in a rather continuous manner; there are no sharp, discontinuous boundaries between human population groups.”
Why do humans focus so much negative energy on our differences when we share so much? We are all interconnected.
P.S.: Everything is just stardust.