No matter your opinion on anything, there is one thing that unites everyone on this

planet: we are all humans.

Where you have been, what you have experienced and all the memories attached are

stories to be told. One can never run out of things to experience, foods to try, places to

go, people to meet. It only takes a little conviction (or an Internet connection).

There are always things that someone else knows that you do not. The smartest person

in the world can learn something from someone they’ve never met; they can gain a new

perspective, hear a new story and make a new friend.

Have you ever looked into the sky and seen an airplane? Consider this: on that airplane,

some 300 people are going somewhere. Going home, going on an adventure, going to

work, working in the air. Each person on that airplane comes from somewhere, has

interacted with unknowable amounts of individuals, is going somewhere and can tell

you something about the world that you never knew.

Each person those thousands of feet up in the air has a story.

The person in seat 4C in business class is flying to sign a million dollar contract. The

person in 18F is on their third flight of the day, with a final destination somewhere

you’ve never heard of. The person in 23A has never been on an airplane before. The

person in 23B hasn’t talked to the people they’re flying to visit in two years. The person

in the pilot seat enjoys the job for a different reason than the pilot in the seat next to

them.

Consider next how different each of those 300 airplane travelers are. With their

different backgrounds and experiences, they bring their own opinions. Their opinions

matter, and should be heard. However, it should not matter what their opinion says.

You do not have to agree or disagree with their opinion, nor do you have to like the new

things that that person could tell you.

Knowing what others think and why can help you and I make better decisions in the

future. Think of the other side of the argument. Listen to what others say. Learn

something new and make your opinion informed.

That’s not my main point. I want you to realize that there are other people in this world

and they are real. They have real experiences, they can tell you things you never knew or

never considered and they should not be pushed away.

In this exact moment, seven billion other people exist in the world. Seven billion

individuals, people, humans.

The world is amazing, and its people have amazing stories to tell.