“Live your life for you not for anyone else. Don’t let the fear of being judged, rejected or disliked stop you from being yourself.”
~Sonya Parker
It feels like lately, everyone wants to make me see their differences.
It's as though they have elevated what makes us 'different' from each other to a whole new special place of honor. Our commonalities are no longer vital to our working, living or banding together. In fact, if my differences are not the same as their differences, then there's a good chance we simply will not be able to come to any accord. We are then destined to live across a chasm from each other, focused on what it important to the others who share our differences, and seeing who can out-scream, out-wit or out-snark each other.
It's a bizarre form of segregation - very subtle, but powerful.
Most sad to me is that those who are 'different', who live those differences out loud and proud, are often the ones who help drive real change in our world. But when they form a gang mentality against the 'others' around them, their message gets lost. And alas, people don't grasp the opportunity to grow in the new understanding of differences, and we are more apart than ever.
Our current common culture is one that values acceptance from the group we align with over self-acceptance.
Celebrating and expressing how we are different from others is not made more powerful by blending into a group of others claiming those same proclivities. Sure, it might make us feel powerful to be in a herd, but we certainly become less seen. The only true way our differences can make a real difference is to stay rooted on our path and share with those who cross it naturally.
Only when we resist the urge to put up walls and hide behind assumptions that we will not be accepted by the group can we grow in the courage of our convictions.
We have to accept everyone's differences, especially ours, on our own.
That's when our differences will indeed make a difference.
Cheers.
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