Arriving to my summer home this past Friday I sat down on my couch to watch the Opening Ceremony filled with excitement. The door was open to my backyard and the cool night breeze was blowing in.

I was sitting next to my step brother and half-brother on our big white comfy couch curled up in a blanket waiting in anticipation for it to begin.

At last it began and after the amazing and beautiful projection show done by the country of Brazil. I noticed my heart become warm and a smile come across my face.

Never in my life had I felt so connected to so many different cultures, people and countries from all around the world.

Don’t get me wrong, I have traveled to many countries and experienced many cultures but never have I seen so many different types of people from all over come together in such peace and harmony.

With what is going on in the world right now, I sat there and thought how simple it could be if people understood how if we peeled back our layers of skin and outer images, how similar we truly are. We are capable of so much if we could all just come together as one.

These people are all from different places yet share such similar talents in their sport of choice. They love what they do and if we could take this love and dedication that these people have shown for their game, we would be such a stronger world capable of amazing things.

Because of Rio’s stadiums smaller size than a usual Olympic stadium, the people from each country came together closer than ever before. As each team filed in, they were able to stand to the sides of the center of the stadium in anticipation of the torch being lit. The field was colored like a rainbow with the colors of each country, a beautiful example of how we can come together and shed our “border like” stigmas.

We strive so often to be so different from one another, to one-up one another, to gain power and are blinded by the value of objects instead of the value of our relations with each other.

Each Olympian athlete from each country is different in their sport, in their ethnicity, and character; however, their sportsmanship and ability to come together and support each other is exactly what each of us should learn to embody each day. Because “we want to be different, which makes us all the same.”