When thinking about the number of conflicts and divisions in this world, I often try to wrap my mind around the concept of “sameness.” I genuinely believe all people are precious, different in their own ways, but have fundamental similarities that tie them to their fellow humans. The human experience is a wonderful thing, yet tragic at times—everyone has experienced a defeat or victory in their own life and, in that regard, we are the same. But, in my mind, sameness, homogeneity, uniformity can take a strange turn when flung around in debates about world issues. I have seen it used in a sort of one-size-fits-all sense, as a device to pave over the rocky foundation of violence and hostility.

An example of misguided application of “sameness” is colorblindness. I once witnessed a debate between two people about the very common topic of racism. Person A rambled on righteously about how they “didn’t see color” and that “all people are created equal,” while person B, who showed signs of clear frustration, constantly transformed the presentation of their argument in an attempt to explain their side. I have seen this argument play out over and over and over. If I had a dollar for every time I have seen one of these conversations, I would be disgustingly rich. Colorblindness is a suffocating form of sameness and it promotes deafness. Everyone sees color, but no one wants to be accused of having the slightest bit of prejudice, so they hit you with the “we all bleed red” line and keep moving on, but that doesn’t stop some people from clenching their purses when they see a certain shade of person.

Sameness of man is countered by sexism, classism, and xenophobia. The insistence on the sameness of all people is contradicted by the way they are actually treated. The declaration of sameness is easy, but getting to what’s underneath it is hard. Differences among people are often blamed for fear that exists in the human heart, but the differences themselves are not at fault at all. Perspective is what makes or breaks bonds, in order to solve any of the world’s problems, you have to admit that difference of views plays a role and go from there.

In my opinion, sameness as a way of simplifying an issue is counterproductive. We can’t ignore our own bias and act as though issues only arise from other people because they are different from us as individuals. Condescension and selfishness of speech are rampant, it is easy to shut our ears to those who we either expect to act exactly as we do, or ostracized them because there is little effort to embrace patience and compassion on our part. For any true “sameness” to be fully recognized, we must be comfortable enough to understand differences and work through them. It is not always an easy process, but it is absolutely necessary if we want to end the discord in our world.

An attitude of acceptance is what I want to continue to embrace in 2016, and I hope that many of you reading this can find your own ways to appreciate the differences in others as well.