64 Lessons for a Life Without Limits by T.D. Jakes

Author:T.D. Jakes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2011-11-29T16:00:00+00:00

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T Differences and Celebrate Diversity

All human beings gravitate to like individuals and avoid those who are different. We feel more comfortable around people who have perceived commonalities—shared culture, profession, age, belief system. We like to hang with people with whom we can immediately relate and confirm our values and opinions.

We go out into the world, to our jobs, schools, or other daytime activities, and interact with people of all kinds. But the moment the whistle blows or the school bell rings, we retreat to our segregated neighborhoods, churches, and social groups to interact with “our own kind.”

Differences challenge us. When someone is not like us, we are curious and may even feel threatened or intimidated. Those insecurities can keep us from reaching out to people and cut us off from the opportunities to learn and grow as people.

Jesus interacted with everyone, the Samaritan woman at the well, Zacchaeus the tax collector, and the lepers, all individuals shunned by society. He did not associate himself with any exclusionary cliques; he showed love to all people. We must learn to do the same.

We can learn to share our views and discuss our divergent opinions without being disrespectful. We can replace the urge to bring down those who think differently with a genuine desire to agree to disagree with goodwill.

Discovering where your ideas and views intersect with others is more important than standing on either side of the line of discussion, arguing that you are “in the right.”

We can all do better at managing our differences if we spend time getting to know and understand people outside our immediate circles. In fact, people are more the same than they are different. No matter what our skin color, our political affiliation, or our religious beliefs, our concerns are essentially identical. We all want to provide for ourselves and our families, be good citizens of our communities, and live with as much meaning and joy as possible.

If all the people around you look exactly like you, vote the way you vote, and think just like you do, your view of the world becomes very small and unbalanced. Differences are easy to spot, but it requires a truly secure and open person to look deep into another person to find common ground.

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