If we spent more time focusing on the things that unite us rather than the things that divide us, I truly believe we’d live in a much happier world. I know it’s not always easy, but together we can make it work. After all, we have so much more in common than we might think!
Let’s Focus on the Things That Unite Us Instead of the Things That Divide
I saw an inspiring quote today by Audre Lorde that said, “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” So many of the problems that we face in the world come down to one thing: intolerance of anything or anyone that is different than us in any way.
That intolerance, more than anything else, does nothing to unite us and everything to divide us. Entire wars have been fought over nothing more than a difference in opinion. Let’s not even talk about how divided we’ve been as a society over the last few years.
Yet, if we stopped to think about it, I really believe that we’d realize that the things that typically divides us could actually bring us together. See, even within our differences, there are common threads that unite us.
We are all united by common threads, even within our differences
When it comes to differences that we have a hard time tolerating, things like religion and politics are the hottest “button pusher” topics. Beneath everything, though, we’re more alike than we think even within these things that so often divide us. We all have common values, even if they look a little different from person to person. Let me give you some examples.
Family & Love
I was going to start with faith, but there’s one even greater value that ties us all together- love. As the Latin poet Virgil once said, “love conquers all.” When it comes to love, there’s none greater than that we feel for our family. If we all took a step back, I think we’ll find that our differences come from the same place- a desire to ensure a better world for the people that we love.
Imagine that you have a friend who votes for a candidate that supports health care for everyone. You think that she wants everyone to have a “free ride” and get something for nothing while you’re stuck footing the bill. However, a conversation could reveal that someone she loves deeply has a serious condition and could literally die without access to affordable medicine. In other words, she votes for the candidate that will best protect her family.
On the other hand, maybe your friend votes based solely on economic issues. On the surface, it seems like all he cares about is money. However, if we take the time to listen, maybe we’ll learn that he cares about money because he grew up without any at all and just wants something different for his kids. Like the first example, he’s voting for the candidate that will best protect his family.
See, beneath all of our differences, we’re united a desire to protect those we love. If we stop fighting long enough to listen, maybe we could let that love unite us and work together to find solutions that protect all of our families.
Faith & Hope
When it comes to the many different religions, we can all agree on at least one thing; we don’t know anything for certain about what comes next. Whether you have faith that there is one true God, a whole pantheon of them, or none at all, that faith is thread that links us all together.
Let’s stop letting the specifics of that faith divide us, and instead let the underlying value unite us. Who knows, we may even learn something from each other. Even just accepting that different faiths have an equal right to exist is a great first step. It takes nothing away from our own, I promise you.
It’s hard to talk about faith without mentioning hope. We overuse that word so much that we’ve kind of lost sight of what it means and how it links us all together. We throw it out there so casually as a verb. I hope you have a nice day. I hope these avocados are ripe enough!
As a noun, though, hope is a very powerful thread that links us all together. Forget what comes after the words “I have hope.” Like faith, it can be different things for different people. Maybe I have hope that there is more good than bad in this world. Perhaps you have hope that while there is more bad, the good will overcome. Different ideas, same underlying thread.
The point is, we all have hope in one way or another. After all, as the saying goes, when everything else is lost, hope remains, right?
We’re all in this strange world together! If nothing else, let that unite us.
There’s one last thread that every single one of us: we’re all living in this strange world on this same planet together. If we can’t find common values within our differences, let that be the thing that unites us.
Look, I’m not naïve. I know that we’ll never live in a world where every single person gets along with every other person. There will always people who will never be willing to accept and celebrate differences in others. However, if even half of us can start breaking down the walls that divide us and build bridges with the values that unite us, we’ll be well on our way to making that better world we all want.
Jake Anderson says
This is bs considering that you put this out now. Where were you 6 months ago, a year ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago. This country became more divided because of the power of social media, the internet, education system, etc. We will never be united because of the hate by extremist including both sides of the political system.
Tony Reynolds says
Jake,
I agree that we as a species across our planet have never been more divided, and yes social media is a great driver/magnifier of this. I do believe that revolution starts in the mirror and therein lies our unifying hope, just maybe that can be rippled out via the same platforms.
Beth says
I appreciate your kind and thoughtful response Tony! Very well said!
Lisa says
There is a lot of positivity coming from you! People come from ALL walks of life and experience life differently. Be willing to listen without interruption, be ok with not agreeing. Do not push your values on other’s. Be ok with disagreeing and move forward. Blaming others, the news and others that do not have the same values as you kinda makes you part of the problem. Just thinking out loud.
Rocio says
All you have here is so true…thank you
Creative Healthy Family says
Thank you so much for your comment.
Eugene Locklear says
Thanks for the insperational quotes definitely made me take alot of things I have took for granted lately take it all in from a different perspective
Pam Johnson says
I agree if we all came down to the basic principle of love this would not be happening
Kim says
The media divides by not telling the truth!!
Sheila Ann Sapp says
If created by ‘God’, i suppose humans have equal potential of good & bad, so we follow his teachings/guidelines, hopefully to be ‘good’, & some unification can have that ‘common ground’…. if, however, humans are an outcome of ‘survival of the fittest’ evolution, then I suppose most likely we will stay alienated….I chose the former, however often feel surrounded by the latter…In other words, nouns like ‘love’, hope’ charity’, ‘faithful’, etc. are ‘unifying’ for some, but not others instinctually ‘devoid ‘ of their common meanings..
Cindy says
I have been staying away from most social media for the past few months. I’m tired of family and friends fighting and being down right nasty and hateful to each other. But today, after seeing this blog it has given me hope that we as a nation can still pull it together. Thank you!