Difference is important in our lives

"It is not best that we should all think alike; it is a difference of opinion that makes horse races".
Mark Twain
In our daily lives, we share common experiences with friends, coworkers, lovers, and complete strangers we cross on the street. But these experiences are rarely as similar as we expect them to be.
A man and a woman may share a moment. To her, it’s a gesture of romantic interest, but to him it’s just a friendly, intelligent conversation. A mother may discipline her teenage son. To the mother, it’s good parenting, but to her son, it’s oppression. Two Web 2.0 startup founders may work tirelessly to design a new social networking platform. To one, the project is about helping people communicate more effectively. To the other, it’s about breaking new technological ground.
We all have different needs, different perspectives, and thus different means for understanding and describing our experiences. This is why we rarely have the same exact interpretation of a shared experience.
These differences are often cited as the reason relationships don’t work. “We just weren’t meant to be together,” a woman might say. “My mom doesn’t understand,” a teenager might say. “Our vision doesn’t seem to be compatible,” one startup founder might say about the other.
But that’s just an easy out. And it’s oftentimes dead wrong. Such differences can be precisely the reason relationships do work.
If that woman wasn’t initially disappointed by that man, they probably wouldn’t be business partners and good friends today. If that teenager wasn’t disciplined and nurtured by his mother, he may have decided to get into the car with his drunken friends the night they wrapped it around a telephone pole. If one startup founder didn’t focus on technology and the other didn’t focus on people, their vision and their work would be far more limited.
It’s important that we see things differently. Because when our different visions eventually mesh together…
Positive change transpires in all of our lives.