Living with different people

One thing about past stories was how they used to portray completely different characters meeting at some point and even getting married.

It seems a collective dream our society has experienced is to have different people living together in harmony… But, I think we can all agree that is not easy.

As reality knocks at our door, we have two basic options: trying to avoid different people as much as possible or to face and embrace them. Unfortunately, the first option seems to be the highest ranked.

We do live in a lonely world. Internet has united us, but it also has divided us, splitting us in different categories and replacing the need for physical contact with cyber love. And many will say it is working!

What will be the impact of that in the future? It is hard to predict, but we are able to visualize the first effects of that when we see a group of friends meeting together without talking with each other, keeping themselves busy with their own phone…

A similar situation has happened with cars. If you go to any big city in the world, you can check on the huge number of one-person cars roaming around our roads, and it does not matter how much some politicians or activists try to convince people to use public transport, it looks like more one-person cars emerge!

So, what will be the future if we keep moving on this lonely pace?

What about the second option? Why is it so hard to face other people and embrace their reality?

For years now I live in a different culture. So, talking about different people is easy for me. Even after decades it is not simple for me to just accept some of the things others do.

What has helped me is the awareness that we can always learn, and we can only learn when the other person has something different… yes, you cannot learn from equals.

Ok, you may learn from equals how to talk or walk, but I guess you went over that period of your life, right? After your basic learning is done, you need people who don’t think like you, who don’t talk like you and who don’t behave like you to learn important things in your life.

The reason is that LEARNING MEANS CHANGING and changing means challenging something you think it is normal. It is like when you are an expert in what you work or you have a deep realization; that challenge helped you to change, that is, to learn.

And challenges only happen when others are different than you. Or, when you are among equals, you start to experience that part of them, which is different than you – after all, ALL OF US is different among each other.

There is something more: perfection does not come with being surrounded and protected in a comfort zone. You will become better as you complement yourself with other’s specialties, virtues or values. That is the treasure I have found here in Colombia or interacting with people from so many cultures… I feel I am being complemented, I am not by myself anymore and I am a better person when I allow that complement to become part of me.

So, don’t turn another person away just because he does not share your values or behave in a weird way… On the contrary, open your mind and let that difference be life a fresh breeze, cleaning the air of your mind and spirit and helping you to be the great wonderful person you are.