Differences
All men and women in the world are absolutely unique, no two individuals in the world are the same.
What could be the source of our differences? Why are we all so quite different, the one from the other?
I consider some plausible options.
Country
Could our differences be along country lines? So that all persons of country A are homogeneous and only differ when considered in comparison with persons from country B?
This is the easiest to dismiss, for If this were true we would never have coined the term civil war, for civil war connotes an internal fight to resolve a thorny differentiating issue within one specific country, so that within a particular country, differences abound, hence, not along country lines.
Culture
Maybe our differences occur along cultural lines? So that all persons of similar cultural upbringing are all super alike and no differences exist?
If this were true, then we ought to see that persons of / from the same culture never have differences, but they do, not just differences, significant disagreements and fights, the Zulu people disagree amongst themselves as much as the Yoruba and as much as those of Russian descent. Hence, not cultural.
Religion
Maybe our differences occur along religious lines. Could it be? Are all persons of the same religion super homogeneous amongst themselves?
The Christian faith is one religion yet possess different sects, with some representing as Oriental Orthodoxy, others as Eastern Orthodoxy, some as Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Some are absolutely unrecognizable as a sister of the other, yet all are based on the teachings of the Bible. The Islamic faith follows the same route, differentiating themselves predominantly along Sunni, Shia or Kharijite lines.
All sects lay claim to worshiping the one true God the “right way” and accuse the other sects of worshiping God the “wrong way”, or not worshiping the same God. These differences within specific religious sects clearly shows that our differences do not cut along religious lines. Hence, not religion.
Family
Could our differences occur along family lines? Are all members of family A homogeneous and differences can only be observed by comparison with members of family B?
Maybe, but I do recall significant fights and arguments growing up between me and my siblings. So that differences, even fights do exist within families. But if all you had was quiet, serene and agreement on all issues in your own family from day one till now, you are all not humans and do not qualify to be evaluated by the same standard as other families. Hence, not family and if not family certainly not friendships.
Learning
Are our differences a function of the content of our minds, that is, that which we learn?
If that be the case, how then is it that you and your class mates, who take the same courses in school do not all understand the subjects equally or come out with the same grades?
Evidently, with that not being the case, that which we learn is not a sufficient reason for our differences, though it does have an impact, as is the case when the degree of exposure of several individuals to a thing or concept is miles apart, that might be a basis for differences on the particular issue, but it does not account for the differences in views of those who were exposed to the same ideas at the same time, in the same room, and yet still have different views on that issue. Hence, not our learning.
Out of Options?
So that if we cannot trace the root of our differences to our friends, religions, culture, family or learning, where then? For it seems we have run out of options to consider.
Not so fast.
The elimination of options is a beautiful technique that has come in handy on several occasions in the past exams I sat for of the multiple choice type, for it quite readily narrows down all possible options from a large set of possible options, to one or a few options standing, a beautiful technique I used regularly when I sure did not know the answer to a question, but knew what was not the answer from the given options.
So that, having eliminated the most feasible but wrong options, we might as well have one option standing.
DNA
Are our differences occur along our biological DNA lines?
By virtue of eliminating other reasonable options we might go with this by default, but this not being an exam to pass without understanding, let us give some consideration to its feasibility.
In biological survival, I opined that the foundation of traits we possess are information encoded in the DNA, and this same DNA accounts for the uniqueness of the individual, for the new being only inherits a base from his or her ancestors and working from that base, forms a new unique DNA for the individual.
This results in an absolutely different individual that has never walked the face of the earth, hence, by reason of our biology, we are all uniquely different, the one from the other, so that there are no two individuals on the surface of the earth that are the same, nor will there ever be. If this were false ditto for all the user identification systems (a la fingerprint and face ids) we have in the world, for they would be of little use and will be easily gamed, but they are of great use fundamentally because each individual is unique, first biologically.
If you take a look back at the previous considerations, which did not check out, we took as the possible root of our differences, in each case, you observe that despite the umbrella under which the group is formed, within the group there are still significant differing views on how things ought to be done, suggesting that something else is at play other than just the umbrella that encompasses the individuals in the group.
All of our differences, all of our significant differences, from our intellectual to our religious to our physical differences are all rooted in our biology, our biology is the base that contains a significant chunk of information pre-coded before our minds became fully developed and upon which we build every other thing or trait we possess, and that biology being absolutely unique due to its unique DNA, leads to the uniqueness of each individual across all possible boundaries or encompassing umbrellas.
The combinatorics of our DNA is so huuuuuge that we could have a trillion persons on the earth at the same time and no two persons will be the same. This is one key reason I have not fallen in with the group of those who believe a random process gave birth to life on the planet, it simply does not make biological or mathematical sense.
Hence, the foundation of our differences is inherently tied to our existence, for it is biological, it is by nature, innate and not of nurture.
Uniformity
The naïve idiot, masquerading as world peace advocate asks:
"How then do we make the world uniform, how do we make everyone see things similarly?"
This question might seemingly sound innocuous, but it is as vile as Hitler calling for the elimination of the Jews, for its rooted in an individual absolutely not appreciative of the differences they perceive in others, hence, seek to make everyone alike, or worse, like themselves.
My dear fool, the only way to attain uniformity is to kill all living things on the planet, hence, the end of all differences, for there are no differences in the grave.
But considering if that happened, I will not be writing this, neither will you be reading it, hence, not so reasonable a move.
What then?
A significant test of maturity, inclusiveness and tolerance is to consider to what extent you can relate to persons of a different cultural, religious or country background, without looking to change that person or complain about a trait they possess which though being different does not cause harm to you or others.
You see how easy it is for many to fail this test as many quickly resort to complaints of traits they do not understand of another person who is not hurting them and seek to distance themselves or change that person.
But I am persuaded better things of you, for in that we cannot eliminate our differences without eliminating the biological beings that possess them (a.k.a. murder), we are left with the most feasible option of celebrating and enjoying all differences.
It is actually fun, a whole lot of it, to just laugh at the weirdness of another person. Give it a try, once you catch yourself being uncomfortable with a trait in another person that is not hurting you, just laugh about it before you give in to complaints and you will never be the same again, the joy and happiness you will get out of life as you go along will be strange to others who have not had this same realization as you have had, let those who are looking to relate only to perfect individuals go dine with angels, as you yet again laugh at the weirdness of even those “perfect humans”.
Thank you for reading.