What Unites Us

I knew there would be differences – the color of our skin, the food we eat, the place we call home, the way we greet each other, our language, the way we bathe, how we travel, the sounds we hear at night... Traveling to Africa opened my eyes in a beautiful way. It made me appreciate our differences, but spending time with my new friends and listening to their stories reminded me that in more ways than not – at the core - we are essentially the same.

As I scanned through some of my photographs taken in the past several months for a little inspiration, the universal nature of this moment struck me. Birth. A miracle each of us has experienced. Love. A gift each of us has the capacity to give and receive. Peace. A sense of calm we all cherish.

Today, please share a moment in time or a collection of words to celebrate our sameness.

Comments

[Marcie]

The yearning in this little boy's eyes..the desire to love and be loved. Isn't 'it'..aren't 'we' all the same???
http://marciescudderphotography.com/index.php?showimage=922

[Elizabeth Harper]

My miracle of love....

http://giftsofthejourney.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/22-years-ago-a-baby-girl/

[Dani]

http://lensustogether.blogspot.com/2009/09/who-i-see.html

This is our third week challenge...so there will be lots of new connections this week.

[Heather Plett]

I made an amazing heart connection with a little girl in a red sari in a tiny village in Bangladesh. We were working on a film project there and we taught the villagers to say "we are all connected" in English for the video (and they taught us how to say it in their language). Throughout the day that we spent in her village, she would often pop up at my elbow and say "we are all connected". It was the only way she knew how to say hello to me and it was enough.

Here's a picture where you can see our eyes connecting across the crowd of delightful children;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fumblingforwords/2412519154/in/set-72157604528050749/

And here's a picture I took as we were departing the village
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fumblingforwords/2412525452/in/set-72157604528050749/

[miruspeg]

Heartwarming post and photo Stephanie.

I was fortunate to journey to Rwanda in 2006 to teach some orphans photography.
They touched my heart and soul profoundly and changed my life.

http://miruspeg.blogspot.com/2008/09/journey-to-rwanda.html

:-)
Peggy

[dining room furniture]

We all are the same in the eyes of God and I just don't know why discrimination is still an issue. Love is naturally within us and sharing it to others is like giving a gift, a very special gift.

[summer]

Becoming a parent has for me opened up my eyes. I see the ordinary struggles we all face with or without children and my ability to sympathize and want to ease any burden I am able to has multiplied tenfold. Then there are those who face the not so (American) ordinary struggles and I want so badly to connect. I find at this point in my life one of the ways I can do that is by stopping to realize joy, to take nothing for granted. To honor those struggling to have enough food, clean water, any and every amenity that I could so easily take for granted by embracing what I've been given. We live way below the poverty line but our life is so very rich and I feel it would be disgraceful to not celebrate every moment of that just as those who I've seen face much greater trials seem to have the ability to do.
I will be the same in my joy. I will be the same in thankfulness.
These two opened my eyes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sufferingsummer/3924322053/