Our world right now is full of differences and similarities and there are places where we should focus on one and places we should focus on the other. However, we mainly tend to focus in the wrong areas. We use our differences to condemn, rather than to celebrate, to grow, and to prosper. We use our similarities to exclude, rather than to empathize, to give solace, and to include.

Daily, I encounter media that influences my perception of what being different means. I am often confronted with examples of our differences being used against us but every so often I come across an example of how differences can pull us together.

I believe our differences give us strength. Much of this belief comes from my love of the X-Men. The X-Men is a group that is made stronger by its diversity. Each member has their own mutation that they bring that makes them vital to the team. No one is ever shunned away because of their ability, they are simply asked how they can make the team better and are accepted. This also ties into my belief that our similarities give us power. Before finding the X-Men, each member feels that they are alone. They hide their individuality to avoid being outcast from other groups of similar people. But Xavier's school gives them a place full of people who are similar to them. Sure, each of their mutations is different but they share the similarity of having a mutation and that gives them strength to be who they are without fear.

While the X-Men are fictional, I believe their approach is applicable to the real world. Every single person you meet each day is different from you. Whether it's something as big as a different religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, etc. or something as small as a different eye color, fashion choice, cell phone, etc. Often we use these differences to discriminate. We see someone who's different and decide not to accept them because we don't understand them. But think about it: if everyone was the same, what kind of world would this be? I know that if everyone were exactly like me I wouldn't be able to listen to all the great music or read all the great literature, heck I probably wouldn't be able to be typing on this keyboard right now or using the internet. That being said, we are all similar in one very important aspect: we are all humans. Like the mutants feel solace in having fellow mutants, we should feel solace in knowing that all of us have each other. We take the human experience for granted but it is something so incredibly unique. We all feel and experience and hear. Our interpretations may be different but that makes the world interesting.

In the end, we are all connected through our human nature. We are different, and that's okay. We are similar, and that's okay. We are all human.