Use Your Difference to Make a Difference

24Healing Our World Today

We are defined by the choices we make and, throughout history, we have given in to our desire for more power at the expense of building connections. Systems and cultures have been built on this bad habit, which has created a cycle that we can't seem to shake. We all come from similar roots as Homo sapiens. Throughout history, as humans have migrated, we have formed our own cultures relative to our geography and personal experiences. We came up with a supposed natural order of things and invented different ways to categorize people based on several hierarchical methods.

Despite many of us knowing this deep down and understanding that the world isn't divided into binaries, we have resorted to trying to eliminate people who are different from us, people who have different ideas from us, and people who look different from us. The result has been a hurting world that lacks tolerance and compassion—a world that moves on too quickly from its crimes and does not work through grievances. There's barely any acknowledgment, reconciliation, or any form of atonement.

Avoiding Cancel Culture

In the past, we dismissed people and institutionalized doing so as law and unwritten laws. Today, I fear that we are making dismissing people the cool thing to do with “cancel culture.” Cancel culture is a term used to refer to the phenomenon of “canceling,” or no longer morally, financially, and/or digitally supporting people—usually celebrities—or things that many have deemed ...