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We all have had the experience of
encountering someone whose life seems so completely different from ours
that we imagine we have nothing in common. However, if we go deeper into
observing, we will see that we all have the same things going on in our
lives. In essence, it is as if our different lives are the same gift,
wrapped in an infinite variety of containers, wrapping paper, ribbons,
and bows. Everybody experiences loss, grief, happiness, excitement,
anger, and fear. Everyone can have money issues of one kind or another,
and all people struggle with difficult choices.
Our lives show up differently for each
one of us because we each learn in different ways. One person may need to
learn the value of money by having too little of it, while another may
need to learn by having more than enough. We each engage in work and love
through experiences that are tailored to our particular perspective. At
times, it appears that some people have it easy, while others are in a
continual state of struggle. The truth is that we are all moving and
growing, and it is very difficult to tell, when looking only at the
exterior of a person, what’s going on inside.
This is one of the many things that can
be so valuable about cultivating relationships with people from all walks
of life. As we get to know those who seem so different from us, we get to
really see how much of life’s challenges and joys are universal. We begin
to look beyond the packaging of skin color, clothing preferences,
socioeconomic differences, hairstyles, and the cars we drive to the heart
of the human experience. It is important to honor and value the
differences in our packaging, but it is just as important to honor the
gift of life inside each one of us. No matter how different the
packaging, the gift inside is the same.
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