Were All in This Together

 

My thesis statement, here, is that I believe that we are more alike than we are different.  Sure, we all have our differences.  For example take the color labeled as “Aqua.”  Would you say that the color is mostly blue or green?  There would be different answers to that question.  Some view the color through a blue lens, perhaps because that is the stronger appeal, and vice versa.  Some may say that they experience color blindness, and they might not readily see either color.  Others may not find the question appealing at all stating that it doesn’t matter.  Others might answer that “Aqua” is its own unique color, and therefore it is neither blue nor green. 

 

Given that we have differences, what might be the reasons for this?  Each of us views things, in the present, from a culmination of our experiences from the past to this very moment.  We have formed beliefs and values as a result of these experiences.  And this is completely normal.

 

Now let’s consider the following:  There has been a good deal of conversation around the fact that many of us are feeling a stronger connection with each other, even though we are separated from one another most of the time during the pandemic we are living with.  Why is this?  Could it be because this experience is something that touches every single person, and therefore leads us to feel connected in this way?  Could it be that there is value in being with family and friends, and because we choose to be separated for the safety of one another we miss those times when we are able to be together?  There could be other reasons given for this state of feeling more connected.  This is a natural human experience also.  Is it just that our awareness of this experience has been heightened?

 

There is a quote by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin which states “We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.”    Whether or not we are aware of our divinity, many of us may have a strong sense of purpose in this life.  Others may have a lesser connection to this sense, and at the same time experience a strong pull to his or her career choice.  At our basic human experience I believe that we all share the same desires.  We all wish to be acknowledged.  We all wish to be understood.  We all wish to be accepted.  We all wish to be loved.  Given these basic desires, what differences are so dividing?

 

As the title of this reflection suggests, we are all in this thing called “Life” together.  I personally would rather spend my energy reveling in the things that unite us as humans than those that separate us.  There is only so much time during “the dash” as Linda Ellis so beautifully points out in her poem of the same title, between our birth date and our death date.  What we do with that dash, I believe, matters.