Synergy is defined as the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

Essentially, synergy is a phenomenon where the parts together are actually able to achieve far more than they were able to achieve on their own. The effect compounds, the result blossoms, and the parts are parts no longer. The whole is so much more than what the parts were before.

The concept of synergy doesn't seem so difficult to understand, does it? I mean, in theory, it's difficult for some to drum up an example of what that looks like, but the definition is straightforward and clear. Addition by addition. More than that with which you started. A welcomed result that is even more than you thought it could be. So as for examples, let me give you one.

A biracial identity is a synergistic relationship where the blending of cultures leads to brand new ideas, thoughts, personalities, opinions, traits. It is something more, a more comes from these individuals, who are not half a person spliced together, but rather are fully made of the identities and ethnicities from which they come. They are not both races only to a certain extent. They are unapologetically more than what the world bargained for, and they are beautiful to say the very least.

A biracial identity is a priceless one.

Every time I see my parents, I am reminded of the love they had for one another in a world of uncertainty and questions to which they didn't have answers. They chose a life together above any others. They chose a world in which they blended their families and taught their children what it means to be more than a half plus another half. They chose love. They chose us. Through scorn and trials and confusion and disdain, my parents chose me. And they never stop reminding me of everything I mean to them, as if they don't mean all that and so much more to me.

So why is it that much of the world can't seem to get the message?

Recently, I have been exploring the concept of my identity more than usual. Not even altogether purposefully - I have just been placed in situations that question who I am more than I ever have before. I have been considering the more that I am and the more that those people around the world like me are as well. Some parts of it have been beautiful to discuss with others. And other parts have threatened to tear me to pieces.

Because altogether too often recently, I have borne witness to news articles and reports and online sources and videos that question the validity of my existence. Of the existence of every biracial person out there. I have seen my biracial brothers and sisters plastered across social media with outrage at their heels. "You're only half! You're not a full person like the rest of us!" I've heard and read and felt the pain of biracial people wondering why neither side will accept them for who they are. "I'm too much of one race for this half to accept and too much of the other race for the other." I've seen comments that question our appearance, question our purpose, question our composition as human beings. I've seen and heard and felt us being thrown into question by the world at large.

I've watched the world pick and choose parts of these priceless biracial identities based on what suits the moment. What suits its argument. What suits its belittlements.

But what the world fails to remember as it picks and chooses those pieces is that the parts are parts no longer.

The result has become something greater. The talons that dig through our histories and whittle us down to too many check marks on an ethnicity survey cannot change the fact that we are more. Cannot change the fact that we are greater than the sum of the parts we left behind. Because here's the thing. We are not fractured into factions of being. We are not less than that from which we came. We are not an uneven mixture riddled with inconsistency. We are not a laundry list of options the world can regard and disregard as it sees fit. We are bold. We are beautiful. We are priceless. We are reminders of love. We are every bit of all of the pasts that have made us and the futures we forge for ourselves. We are proud of who we are, and we deserve to be. We are more than the sum of our parts.

We are whole.