Reflecting on diversity

We are all the same. In the fundamentals, we are alike, you and I.

We are all the same.

We have two eyes, which give us perspective, which respond to the 'visible' part of the spectrum.  We have two ears, which respond to the same frequencies of sound, which respond to certain sounds with pleasure and others with pain.  When we are ill, we have much the same symptoms.  When we are in pain, we experience the same grief and the same discomfort.  We have a concept of family.  We think in the same way, in a mixture of language and instinct and emotion that none of us understand.  We walk on two legs, and share the experiences of running in the wind or climbing trees.

Our similarities bring unity.  If we had nothing in common, we could not communicate needs or ideas.  Without similarities, there would be no foundation for empathy or compassion.  If we had nothing in common, we could not build communities, for we would have no shared needs.

We are all the same.  In the fundamentals, we are alike, you and I.

But we are also all different.

Every eye has its own distinct colour and pattern.  While some can see perfectly, others may need glasses or lenses to see properly, and some cannot see at all.  Some cannot walk.  Some live in famine, while others eat more than is good for them.  Some have a natural flair for the artistic, or for science, or for music.  Some people are very practical.  Some people care for society, others exploit it.  

Our differences give us space for growth.  Our differences bring altered perceptions, subjective experiences, and often conflict.  Differences bring a need for communication, and a need for understanding of the world outside our own mind.  Without these differences, we could not build communities, because a community exploits the strengths of its members to the benefit of all.  Without differences, conversation would be boring indeed.


Are you religious?  Then reflect for a moment on how amazing it is that God balanced similarities and differences.  Think about how much we can learn from simply being different to someone else.  Think about the why: why He did not make us all the same, why there is conflict.  He gave us life, and placed us here, and said to us: Learn, my children.  See my face reflected in my creation in its glory.

If you are not religious then the wonder is ten-fold!  Emergent order: from chaos came structure, and from structure came life.  Evolution has shown that there is strength in diversity: the strength to withstand diseases, to survive the worst the planet can provide, to grow and learn and explore.  From life, there came intelligence, and empathy, and love.  Alone, we are weak and transitory, mere twisting moments of flesh.  Together, we can use our similarities as foundations and our differences as tools to create a bigger and brighter world.  By seeing through another's eyes, by stopping to smell the flowers, by always finding the bigger picture, we can last forever in a lifetime.


Isn't it fantastic that we are all different?  Gay or straight or black or white, from America or Europe or Asia or Africa or Australia, tall or short, fat or thin, healthy or ill or in pain, old or young.  We are all different, but we are all the same.