Alike or Different?

Some people simply look for how a person is like themselves. Others search for the differences. The former is a kind of acceptance; the latter is the opposite, or at least the beginning of the opposite. I suppose early stages of thinking in either manner is the start of discernment – who and what am I dealing with in this person?

Eventually, however, each of us will find a way to either find a way of feeling compatible with the other person, or decide to separate ourselves from the other. To be with or to be against – that seems to be the question.

I ask why these must be the only options. Surely there is more to life than ‘on’ or ‘off’, like or dislike, support or fight against.

A quick scan of American public sentiment would tell us the simple is true, the complex not. How divided are we as a nation and what makes us prefer to be this way? Is it natural? Is it inevitable?

Maybe. The awful truth is that ‘maybe’ is the operative answer at this point in time in our history. We are challenged to see life in one way or another; not multiples or optimals. Just negatives. It is either good or bad; nothing in between.

Well, I am a unique person. So are you. So is each of us. All of mankind’s teachings, religions, academic disciplines have told us so. But we don’t much act like it. “You are either with me or against me!” That is the current mantra.

Cooler heads know this is not true. Hot heads fall prey to the mantra, but the rest do not. Why is that? How do we overcome it?

I prefer the cooler heads, myself. I think there is more good to be found among all of us – singly or together – than the negative. United we stand. Divided we fall. Lincoln said it clearly – “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

The more we find points of separation the more divided we become. We know this. So do propagandists and manipulators.

The more difficult task is to seek how we are in agreement and to then expand that base to more agreement so we can stand united with a solution that fits us all best. This is what is meant by ‘for the good of the people’. Remember the Biblical exhortation – “Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward All Men.”

We cannot have the peace without embracing goodwill toward all men. It is the very essence of foreign affairs and diplomacy. Finding the common threads of our being together and wanting to be together. Finding agreement among all the disagreeable topics; then building more agreement until most if not all the disagreements melt away.

We have more to gain by working together than working apart. We can achieve great things by pooling our resources and intelligence rather than pitting our resources against each other. We know this. Instinctively we know this.

So why don’t we live like we do?

The great melting pot of American culture is an example of this. Together we have accomplished much for hundreds of years, and not just for ourselves. We have shared these accomplishments with the rest of the global community. Education, food, ideas, health care, charity, economic systems for self sustainability, and so much more. Each of these things is a compact among people so we can celebrate our sameness. We express ourselves in different ways according to our cultures but at the very core of all of this are the same feelings and essence of oneness.

At some point each of us is called to respond to this call for unity. Without fear. With confidence. We are asked to step up and forward to do great things.

It helps if we have a leader in which to believe. But we have done so often without the leader. And that only underscores the reality that the call is a universal truth.

Do you hear it calling? Are you stirring to respond? Will you lend your life and purpose to brighten the light in the lives of others not because they are the same as you but precisely because they are different and thus alike?

Not an easy concept to wrap your head around. Yet it is so simple. Just say yes and step forward!

January 18, 2017