Divided We Fall

The things that make us all alike are much more numerous and important than the things that make us different.

The most recent scientific consensus is that 99.5% of the DNA of every human being on the planet is exactly alike. If a strand of your DNA was the length of a football field, the part that makes you different from everyone else in the world would stretch about a foot and a half. Easy first down. Maybe it's reasonable to spend 0.5% of your day pondering these ironclad genetic differences. That's 12 minutes -- or 8 if you sleep. A coupla commercial breaks. For the rest of the day, think about the fact that everyone else on the planet is almost totally, completely, exactly like you.

We want to think of ourselves as unique and special, and of course, you are. Go talk to yourself in the mirror; no one else in the world has that face or that voice. No one else in history has the exact same talents and fears. But what mostly makes you who you are is not the 0.5 things that make you different, it's the 95.5 things you share with every other person in the world. 

People tend to divide themselves into groups based on skin color, education, the language they speak, the country they or their ancestors came from. These divisions make our lives smaller, they make our world smaller. They cut us off from opportunities to make friends, to do business, to experience new games, food, art, music. What's more, too often it seems to me that the public personalities who emphasize these divisions, the people who encourage us to divide ourselves into these groups, are not really trying to help members of their group or any other group. They are trying to gain more power or influence for themselves, trying to herd people toward their personal cause, for their personal benefit. Divide and Conquer, as the saying goes. It's never Divide and Help, or Divide and Heal.

Check out the sea of humanity roiling through your local mall or ball game or concert. People come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors, children and elderly, excited teenagers, weary parents. And every one of them wants to be safe, to be healthy and free from hunger and fear. They all want a new cell phone and Netflix. They want to enjoy life. They want to be loved. They want all of those things for their children. And they are each connected to and part of the one Divine, just like you are.