A common word

You and I share the planet with over 6 billion other people. Have you considered how much you would have in common with another person? Think of the person most unlike you.

We come from different backgrounds, hold different belief systems, and grasp different schools of thinking about life. Throughout history, independent of population size, there has always been tension among people – between individuals we see physical struggles; between groups we see rivalry, between societies we see political disputes; between countries we see immoral economic competitiveness.

If disputes and tension is so embedded in humanity, can we change?

Two people in a physical struggle realise that a dispute at this level will bring negativity (loss of particular benefits that the relationship had as well as negative emotions) into their private lives. At the group level or country level, resolving a dispute is harder because we are able to shift negative consequences out of our own lives, and in doing so, we inadvertently push it into someone else’s. Whilst we, as individuals, can continue to live happily with our self interest preserved, social unjust can remain.

It’s about time to create change. While it is hard theoretically, it’s simple if we take smart initiatives one step at a time. Like most problems, solving them works best if you work backwards: we have tension between countries, which arose from tension between societies, which arose from tension between groups, which arose from… The initiative must start with you.

How can you be the type of person who ‘plays well with others’?

One tip (among many): communication.

1. Look for common ground. It may help to ask how/why he/she came to be at the same place you are, share information about yourself to help the other person.

E.g.

‘Did I miss anything? I got lost and arrived late’
‘The man there, in the red shirt, said a brief ‘thanks for coming’ and said we’ll start in 15 minutes. There is food over on the table – it’s all vegetarian though’
‘Oh, perfect,’
‘You’re vegetarian?’
‘Technically no, because I eat fish – there are complex rules, ha-ha.’
‘My friend is ‘vegan’, but I don’t understand the differences’

2. Learn about that area, (vegetarianism in this example) and talk more on that subject to establish a relationship. Being willing to accept people for their beliefs and take time to learn. With an open mind, undoubtedly, you’ll find more things in common.

Each of us has more in common with all of the 6.8 billion people on this planet (as of this month) than we do with anything else in the universe.