99.9%, Part II

In our last blog, we addressed the fact that, genetically, all human beings are 99.9% alike. Only 0.1% of everyone’s genetic makeup is different from one another. 

Yet, we humans tend to focus on the differences between us, which leads to judgment, discrimination, shaming, exclusion, and division - and so much more. 

Someone To Tell It To is ultimately working to help alleviate those painful reactions to the 0.1% of differences between us. By listening to and beginning to value one another for who we are - so very much alike and so very unique, because of the 0.1%. But those differences are often not valued, often because we don’t connect with one another enough to understand, respect, and appreciate them.

Recently a friend of ours shared a story about learning a valuable lesson concerning differences - and how embracing our vastly more prevalent commonalities can transcend the differences. It goes like this:

Last year, during the U.S. presidential election campaign, our friend traveled around the United States working in support of one of the major candidates to lead the country. 

A significant portion of the work that was being done by our friend was in a region in which many more people were inclined to vote against the candidate whom our friend was supporting. It was easy for our friend to view the judgments and values of those on the other side as suspect and misguided. 

Our friend also had their pet dog with them for the campaign. 

But one day the dog went missing. It was devastating and heartbreaking for our friend, who cherished the dog. A search went on for three days for the missing pet, and many people in the community where the dog went missing joined in the search. 

Many of those people - those kind-hearted, empathetic, caring people - were supporters of the opponent of our friend’s candidate. But they set aside any political judgments or differences to help our friend in the search for the beloved pet. 

Their concern for the dog and for the dog’s family superseded their differences. They pitched in to help, without reservation, because they too loved their pets and could absolutely relate to what a loss does to individuals and families when a pet is lost from them. 

They made a very human connection with our friend. Whatever political differences they had between them didn't matter at that moment. A lost dog was too painful, too heart-wrenching, and too much to bear to allow it to happen without trying to find the dog and reunite it with its family. 

The terrible feelings of loss - the regret, the guilt, and the pain - were something they all understood, as very commonly human feelings and reactions. They connected with what we all share in common, and set the differences aside to help another grieving human being in trying to bring the dog back home. 

Sadly, their search over three days did not find the dog. The loss is real and permanent. There is no denying that reality. But, so too is the greater permanence of the community’s kindness, empathy, and caring - the marks of humanities’ best attributes.  

Our friend is deeply grateful for those good people who met our friend in a profound need. The primary goal of returning the dog home wasn’t met. It certainly wasn’t what our friend hoped for. But what our friend discovered and received in new insights, connections, and understandings, was more powerful and strong and lasting than our friend could ever have imagined. 

When we connect with our common human needs, despite our vastly smaller differences, it can be so healing, even - and maybe most especially  - when we least expect there to be a connection so profound and real.

The fact is, the work Someone To Tell It To does puts us in front of and face-to-face with many others who are different from us - on the surface. Politically, religiously, racially, culturally. But we always lead with our common human needs and feelings in our listening work. And we lead, always, with the belief that everyone has a story to tell and needs to tell it in order to find reassurance and relevance in their lives. 

These values make all the difference. They create safe spaces. They create the context for better conversations. They create deeper human connections.

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash