The soft halo of orange on the wall from my nightlight would blur in and out of focus as my innocent eyes welled up, and the waves of uncontainable sadness rolled sideways down my face. That night I watched a movie set in Mississippi during the 60’s, and the cruelty and violence that I saw against people, simply because of the color of their beautiful skin, left me utterly broken. How could humans treat each other that way? The hatred was unfathomable to me, and I remember laying awake for hours shaking my exhausted little head, and refusing this senseless and horrifying new reality.  

Throughout history humanity has repeatedly chosen to magnify the anthill of differences between races and genders instead of choosing to acknowledge and embrace the obvious mountain of similarities that we share. We may eat funny smelling foods or believe in different gods, but our hearts and minds require the same thing. There is no mystery to the health and happiness that we all desire. The languages and cultures that may seem to initially divide us on the surface offer some of the greatest examples of just how astoundingly similar we all are. 

In a world where we share so much, how can there be such rampant racism and discrimination? Perhaps one reason why humanity always seeks to know who to hate, is that it is the lazy way to try and find one self. When we set out to discover ourselves it takes far less effort, intelligence or insight to try and define yourself by what, or who, it is you may misunderstand, or dislike. The issue with this is that we learn nothing about ourselves from hating others, and when we focus on the tiniest of differences in culture or creed we create a divide that wasn’t actually there at all. 

When we stop and identify the true challenges and difficulties in this life they come from similar places for all of us: accidents, poverty, disasters, disease and death. One thing all of them share is a total disregard for a persons race, sexual orientation or political views. Those are silly and meaningless differences that we construct, and get instantly blown apart when they come in contact with deeper more universal struggles. This becomes abundantly obvious in communities after a natural disaster rolls through. It makes no difference if it is a hurricane, fire or flood, people from all walks of life, with no thought of themselves or how they will benefit, immediately extend a helping hand. It is in these moments that we can see not only what humanity is, but our true potential as well.

In the world economy it is easy and understandable to see others as competition to fight with over dwindling resources, or a job, and not as a fellow human and possible friend. In our societies we are pitted against each other and told that it is in beating one another that we find our own value, but that is not the truth. It is from looking within ourselves through love, and with the help of our friends and family, that we can begin to understand our place in this world. Dickens wrote that as humans we are only “fellow passengers to the grave” and he reminds me that while we each pass from this life on our own, we deal with the passing of others together, and that is another phenomenally powerful aspect of the importance we play in each others lives. To help uplift one another and show kindness and compassion is one of the most fulfilling and rewarding things we can ever do. 

It is also true that after those same disasters there are other individuals that look to take advantage of the situation and the victims. There have been, and will always be people that prey on the less fortunate, and allow their own wants to outweigh others needs. The unfortunate and unavoidable fact is that some people only seek to hurt and harm. That however has never been, and will never be, the majority of humanity by any stretch of the imagination. That is why it is so vitally important that we take the time to look beyond the labels, stereotypes and assumptions to see each individual for who they are, and have the potential to be. When we do we will not see strangers, classes or pigments, but a glorious family full of brothers and sisters.