I only pretend to have all of the answers.  I am fully aware that the world is far too complex for my tiny brain to fathom let alone “solve”.  Further, I believe the world’s problems are too complex and vast for any one person to solve.  And at the same time, the world is exactly the way it is meant to be and thus has no “problems” that we cannot solve or that will not force us to be better.

List off any and all of the current political hot topics: climate change, the death penalty, LGBT rights, abortion, etc.  All issues that we as humans are wrestling with and wrestling with each other on.  In order to get through these issues, we must become a better and stronger society, not dissimilar to slavery and segregation.  Yes, we are still dealing with residual issues but we are far stronger as a whole now then we were during segregation and slavery.  

What I urge us all to remember is that we are one race.  We are all humans.  I doubt there are two people on the planet who align 100% on everything.  I am also 100% certain that no one person has the single best answer for anything.  And this is a good thing!  In fact, without disagreement and debate, we would not be forced to think outside of our narrow little box and we would rarely come up with the optimal answers and solutions.  We would only have our petty little one world view solutions.  And these are rarely the optimal ones and instead are likely a small piece of a far better answer.  This is true in politics, business, and life.  Broaden your view by putting yourself in the shoes of and listening (truly listening and hearing) to others.  You are still able to disagree with them after listening but at least now you have an idea of where they are coming from and why they believe what they believe. 

Second, if you are reading this you are likely not in high school anymore.  So I beg you to stop acting like it.  You don’t have to not like somebody because they happen to like or are friends with somebody you don’t like.  They, just like you, are a multi-faceted human.  And you don’t have to agree with everything they believe in to believe in and be friends with them.  I remember Hitler had a similar view of life.  The Jews weren’t part of the “cool kids”, asinine!  Love and see one another as humans first.  If your life needs to be saved or you need to save somebody’s life rarely will you take the time to ask them if they are a democratic or republican you will just get on with the life-saving.  Well, daily we are in life-saving situations, making life-saving choices whether they appear that way or not.  Everything we do has a life-altering consequence.  

Never stop fighting for what you believe is right, but check to make sure that what you are fighting for is still what you believe.  Further, work just as hard to prove yourself wrong as you do to prove that your right.  This will not only strengthen your stance and argument, but it will also many times give you a deeper and fuller understanding of what is “right”.  

Change, large and small, is up to both the group and the individuals that make it up.  There is no change without individual action and there is no mass movement without group synergy. We are facing as a race some major and potentially catastrophic issues.  We as a population will need to band together in some form or fashion if we hope to come out on top of these issues and by on top I mean survive.  

Banding together and finding common ground is the only way in which we will thrive long-term as a species and on the flip side argument and debate are the only way we will be able to find the optimal solutions and common ground on which to stand.  In order to accomplish this dichotomy in an optimal fashion, we must see each other as one and the same.  

You are me and I am you.  We are human.