Graphic created by Evan Brooks using Wix.
We don’t think about it all that much, but there are other people that share this world. Often, we live as if we are the main and only protagonist in the game of life, but there are those that surround us that believe they are, too, a protagonist. They have emotions and dreams, and yet we tend to acknowledge only ourselves. Most see another person and don’t wonder what their story is, whether it’s because they don’t have the time, or because they simply do not care. But I see you.
I see the passerby and understand that their life, too, has been filled with joy, sadness, enlightenment and pain. When I stand in a room with many individuals, I bask at the diversity of thought and yet, remember the similarities we all share. We are all human, but where we are born shapes our identity.
We use differences in identities to fall into groups we see as similar to us, while pushing away those that we deem too different. The differences we use as excuses are primitive, whether it be background, how someone sounds or hobbies. We forget that we share the same emotional states, that we all can feel, and that no matter what language we speak, we still know how to express ourselves.
The point is simple: I see the diversity and how it is used to build stronger teams, but at the same time, how it is used to group people up. It is easy to say that you want to work with others that hold different ideals and ideas until yours are challenged.
I see our gravitation towards those like us and how it leads to our downfall, shifting us away from a mind filled with diverse ideas. It is reasonable to seek out those that we can relate with, but it is insane to justify not hearing the counter points of a two-sided conversation.
Sometimes it’s healthy to hear out someone who spits words and ideas that you would spend a lifetime opposing. If we never listened, then we wouldn’t know what we were against in the first place. It also shows a strong sense of caring for your views, as you are willing to have your own ideological foundation shaken in hopes to find out that it is actually solid.
By understanding how similar we are and how we use our differences to divide, we can begin to stop thinking that we are the only important figure around. Observe and learn from others, while in turn, teaching them something that you know.
It can work the other way too: we can see ourselves as rather unimportant characters. Everyone matters and has a part to play, because everyone has something to give, and it is through giving to others that meaning is found.
Seek to help others in any way that you can because helping someone else grow, in turn, helps you grow as a person. It is not selfish to take advice, but it is selfish not to offer any yourself, especially to those that need it.
When talking about seeing yourself as the only person that matters, I am not specifically saying that it is to be accepted as individuality. Individuality is needed and cherished, just as working in a team and as one unit is needed and cherished — it all depends on the moment.
Sometimes, people just need to be themselves, hang out in like-minded groups and think the way that they want to think. Other times, it is necessary to branch out and accept or, at least, listen to new ideas. So, upon seeing another person, realize that they are actually another person with their own experiences. See diversity as strength, not a tool to divide, and see the similarities that bind us all together.
Evan Brooks is a third-year Business Management major with minors in Economics and Civic and Professional Leadership. EB916132@wcupa.edu