Passion for Good.

Look to the person to your left. Now, look to the person to your right. What do you have in common with them? Can you find any similarities, any shared interests, or any connections? Now, think about what makes you different than the person to your left or the person to your right. How have you been raised differently from them? How do you think differently from them? Now, think to yourself, do these differences amount to a sense of entitlement, of privilege, or of superiority?Why should differences create these assumptions of entitlement, privilege, and superiority? How has our society progressed that has allowed for this sense of entitlement and privilege to rule the thoughts of men and women? The fact is that we are all human, and so we all share connections with one another. We also share differences with one another. At the root of these differences, though, men and women have been deceived into thinking that difference is bad, that difference is evil, or that it creates a social hierarchy in which one class of people with “preferred” differences are superior to all the rest. So, what if we rid ourselves of this thinking? Instead of thinking that difference is bad, what if we saw it as constructive or even as complementary to our own differences? What if we saw difference as a good thing?Thinking back to the tragedies and acts of hatred that have robbed our own nation and even the greater international community of peace and security, I cannot help but streamline these acts down to individual decisions, maybe partially attributed to the thought that difference threatens our well-being. When these mass shootings, genocides, or mass atrocities are committed, the perpetrator rarely ever thinks about the lives he or she will harm or destroy. Besides power politics, governmental action, or laws that should or should not be intact, these acts of violence are perpetrated because of this idea that what makes one person different from another ultimately threatens one society or the betterment of all of humanity. This passion for eradicating differences has led to the worst atrocities of our time, and if we do not change the course of our thinking, it will continue to lead to acts of violence while we keep asking ourselves, “Why has this happened again?”So, how do we learn from each other’s differences in order to develop compassionate, positive, and forceful passions that work for the good of our societies and, ultimately, the good of our global community? How do we use our passion for good?Think about yourself. What gives you a thrill? What drives your passions? What stems from your beliefs? How, then, can we use our own unique passions and our convicted beliefs to impact the lives of others in a positive way? For me, traveling has done just that. It has opened my eyes. Placing myself in environments different than the one I grew up in rid myself of the selfish biases I possessed while affirming those core beliefs of mine that I could use to drive my passion to help others around the world acknowledge their worth and believe in their potential. But, it does not take going on a plane and flying across the world to have these same experiences. We can have these eye-opening and life-changing experiences every day if we allow ourselves to. What made my experiences so impactful was not where I was placed geographically, but it was who I surrounded myself with.Those who agreed with me affirmed my convictions and beliefs. Conversely, those who challenged my beliefs and opinions adapted and molded my beliefs in such a way that stretched them beyond where I thought they could go and ultimately allowed my character to grow. You see, difference does not have to threaten our own well-being or destroy our character. Difference can be used in order to strengthen our character so it can grow and stretch beyond where we could ever take it on our own. We each possess different thoughts, feelings, and passions, and when we use those differences to collectively inspire, challenge, and strengthen each other, we will begin to view those differences as positively powerful.It is time to change our perception of difference from something that ultimately hampers and threatens humanity to something that inherently reinforces it. For, when we surround ourselves with people whose beliefs, opinions, thoughts, and passions differ from our own, we become more human. Imagine that.