Hello World!
I’m using my daily thoughts and encounters to discover as many things as possible which bring together, rather than divide, our various belief systems and cultures.
I was recently asked the shortest possible question, yet one which can sometimes be the hardest to answer: why? Why, they asked, am I looking for what makes us the same, when we are all inherently different? Should our differences not be celebrated, and therefore highlighted rather than swept under the carpet?
My answer, of course, is absolutely. What makes this less simple though is that differences often are not celebrated but picked out and picked on. Two football supporters, for example, may have lots in common in that they like and know a lot about football, they could share thoughtful and insightful opinion on the best tactics, who might win the league, who’s best for their national teams...yet they might focus only on the fact they support different teams. The existence of different teams and their supports is not in itself a bad thing – without this variety, football would not exist – yet it is too often seen as a reason for mistrust.
The same can be said about our faith and belief systems. The world’s major religions all hold true to their teachings of certain mutual principles. Those who do not believe in religion might also teach those same principles in the form of their personal morals.
If we judge each other for believing something different, we can only be hypocritical when we do so. Because each and every one of us holds different beliefs, no matter how slight. We may ourselves believe something different from one day to the next, or finish a conversation with a new perspective to that with which we started it, due to something we heard during it.
So with a New Year having begun in earnest, let’s make a resolution to each other. Just a short, two-word resolution: to listen. Listen to what we have to say and identify with the many aspects of our diverse lives which we share.
We may find we finish 2013 with more friends than we began with.
Thanks for listening, take care.
