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Different in All Ways Trivial
“We tend to cooperate with us, and fear and attack them.” — Rick Hanson
Naturally, we are inclined to favor those similar to us in any way. If another obtains a salient difference, we tend to create a gap between us and them.
Though, obvious or not, each and every living being holds various [,important] qualities that we all share.
I can confidently say that this is the most arbitrary fact I know, and I don’t even remember where I learned it from, but humans share more similarities in DNA with each other than emperor penguins.
Feel free to use this fact as a pick-up line: Hey, girl, did you know we have more in common than emperor penguins? It would most definitely work if used on me.
This merely goes to show that physical distinctives or similarities should hold no impact on how we categorize our world. Though, unfortunate as it is, another natural tendency of ours is to perceive the world as a single dimension.
When we focus on a menial difference between us and another, it becomes accentuated and will soon grow of greater importance than it truly is.
Negative feelings towards the other is often also soon to follow.
Though, when we broaden our attention towards the other, we find the most mundane and important…
