Unity is universal. Every single one of us wants to feel like we belong.

Life is an ongoing search for unity, for a feeling of belonging, for a sense of community that relinquishes us from our lonely existence – even if just for a brief moment. At least when it comes to humans, we are much more alike than we are different. We all have the same basic wants and needs, even if the details aren’t quite the same.

It is in those details,though, that our unity breaks down. Like with love, we warp the meaning of the concept and we complicate it until it is no longer recognizable. We tend to forget the origin of our oneness as a species and we focus on aspects that separate instead of unite us.

And that is a significant problem that has permeated across millennia, across generations and cultures, across people and places. It is a problem that has led to hatred, to wars, to so much unnecessary destruction and death. Instead of approaching other people with an open mind, free from judgments and predisposed biases, we project our insecurities and unfounded fears onto them. We scan for what is different; we suppress what is the same. We treat each other with love and kindness only when we feel it is warranted, earned, or deserved. When it is not, we prefer hatred and cruelness or, at the very least, indifferent disdain. And that warps our gentle natures and makes us forget that we all have the same desires to feel safe and free and loved.

Our similarities are what matter. They are what make us united in our humanity. They are what make us feel that sense of belonging that we all seek so desperately throughout our lives. The differences are mere details. It’s important that we remember that when approaching someone else, be it a friend or a stranger.