Maybe you've seen it shared on your Facebook wall or Twitter feed this week or maybe this is the first time you're hearing of it, but a video called "All That We Share" was just recently released from a Denmark-based television company. The video centers on the unity of the human experience outside of stereotypes, nationality, social standing, economic status, etc. It's a powerful reminder that no matter how someone identifies or expresses themselves, they can be just like you or me.
I am so guilty of putting myself in a box and consequently placing others in boxes as well. I am so guilty of being petty and not wanting to diversify my world. I am so guilty of buying into what I want to hear from who I want to hear it from. The beautiful thing about opinions and lifestyles is that every one can be different from the next, yet they don't have to alienate us from each other.
We're living in a void of empathy. We have become uncomfortable with public displays of compassion. Somehow, some way helping others has fallen out of fashion and with that left understanding for a human other than those close to us. It's disheartening to have good intentions but still make that snap judgement.
I'll leave you with the still-powerful words of Maya Angelou's "Human Family."
I note the obvious differences
in the human family.
Some of us are serious,
some thrive on comedy.
Some declare their lives are lived
as true profundity,
and others claim they really live
the real reality.
The variety of our skin tones
can confuse, bemuse, delight,
brown and pink and beige and purple,
tan and blue and white.
I've sailed upon the seven seas
and stopped in every land,
I've seen the wonders of the world
not yet one common man.
I know ten thousand women
called Jane and Mary Jane,
but I've not seen any two
who really were the same.
Mirror twins are different
although their features jibe,
and lovers think quite different thoughts
while lying side by side.
We love and lose in China,
we weep on England's moors,
and laugh and moan in Guinea,
and thrive on Spanish shores.
We seek success in Finland,
are born and die in Maine.
In minor ways we differ,
in major we're the same.
I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.
We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.
We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.
