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Why Are We So Afraid To Embrace the Different? Part 1

It’s the eye contact that lingers a little too long, the hug that squeezes a little too hard, the handshake that practically rips your arm off, the pause that befalls a conversation where we feel the need to say, “Anyhow…” It’s that fake sentence that has become a greeting rather than a question: “Hi, how are you?” “Good thanks, how are you?”

But nowhere in scripture do I see: love your neighbour only if they act, think, look, dress, hug, talk, live, parent, eat, believe…. and obey social cues… exactly like you.

We’ve taken warmth and affection and put a time limit on it. We’ve taken a heart felt question and turned it into a sterile greeting. We’ve taken the beautiful silence in conversation (and never mind life in general) and labeled it as awkward – as ‘space’ that needs to be filled with token spew. So much so, that anything outside of these unspoken social cues and parameters are quickly label as different. Or strange. Or weird.

Why are we so afraid to embrace what’s different?

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