Marilyn

I am different from you: my thoughts, my beliefs, my outward display of the truth. But I can still hear you. The question I ask is can you hear me?

Are our differences the only things that unite us?

It may seem like an odd thing to ask, but with every passing day, it is something I am starting to believe more.

In many ways, it makes no sense.

United by difference.

 But as we so-called develop as a world, I am left with a feeling that resonates deep within me. The only thing we desire is to belong, yet in our current environment, to belong to anything means being united by our dislike for something else.

Across the world, there seem to be untold groups of humanity acting this out daily, lashing out at anything, which does not support their current story. Driven by the fear of the unknown, the very thing that use to unite us for the betterment of humanity.

We gather in groups where we feel safe enough to present our actual prejudice, which sadly can act as a vial echo chamber that continues to re-enforce our limited views. 

We persecute, condemn, and condone anything that does not align with our current views, supported by like-minded groups, ever-increasing the volume of rhetoric, every distancing us from an alternate view, perhaps an essential lesson from ever being learned.

The question is, why do we want to be united by our differences? 

At first glance, the simple act of wanting to belong seems innocent, a feeling that we all deserve. But it's the undercurrent of what drives this desire that worries me most.

Social media should be a wonderful tool, yet it feels like we have surrendered our curious nature to a limited algorithm that suggests friends, groups, and movements that we may like to rally behind. 

I don't believe that the desire to be accepted by a group is the problem. Yet the dogmatic way we defend our decisions surrounded by like, whipped into a frenzy of justification is where the problems begin.

Experience has proven that these allies seem only to advocate a rather one-dimensional view of what could be. If the group's line of thinking does not sit well with you and you speak your truth, you are likely to be unceremoniously ousted. 

We seem to have spiralled into a never-ending argument to prove our correctness, to validate our thoughts, to enforce the concept that we are right and they are wrong. 

I am as guilty as the next person. I have fought pitch battles over insignificant opinions that have had lasting consequences, which I regret. Not for the fact of standing up for what I believe in. But for the fact that I had to be right at any cost, literally rendering me deaf to half of the conversation. Skilfully twisting their valid opinion into a form of distorted evidence that supported my beliefs, I am right. You are wrong. 

This unspoken fact plays out around the world seemingly every moment of the day. Our desire to belong, to be accepted, seems to be forcing us to view the world through a blinkered view. You agree, or you are wrong; therefore, your thoughts and beliefs will be discarded as falsehoods that can never be true, heard, or considered.

We seem to have lost the ability to listen and hear anything that differs from our current perspective. A sad reality that unites us by difference.

But where does this leave us?

For me, it exposes the simple truth that the path we have chosen to travel has diverted us from the very knowledge we need to truly unite. But in the end, it is a chosen path, and we all have the choice to change, change for the hope of understanding.