Differences

When one puts a Human Being and a Great ape in the same room, it is difficult to realise that over 95% of their genetic make-up is the same.

Similarly, if we were to put two humans in the same room (regardless of whether one was light-skinned and the other was dark-skinned, or one was male and the other was female), genetically they would be 99.999% the same.

The difference between all humans, genetically, is only 0.001%.

If we were to sum-up the whole of human existence in one sentence, it would be this: "Because we are so similar, we have tried so different to be unique."

It is a human flaw that we rarely look for what is similar and mainly look for what is different. We always look for the 0.001% that is different and ignore the 99.999% that is similar.

We then take this small fact and make it as large as possible. Whether the difference is the sex of the person, the age of the person, the religion of the person, the colour of their skin or whether that person has any physical disabilities, we always tend to find the 0.001% that is different and focus on that.

It is because of our tendency to focus on the 0.001% that is different that we have so many arguments, prejudices and wars. If only we focused on the 99.999% that we have in common with everyone else, the world would be a better place.

As human beings, we like our individualism. We like to feel that there is something that we can do that nobody else can do. We like to feel that there are some things that we can do well that others find difficult. As a result of this, we always try to look at the differences between ourselves and others. Unfortunately, as a result of this, we often fail to see what we all have in common. This fact alone is the cause of most arguments and conflicts that happen on a personal and, consequently, on a national and global level.