We don’t celebrate our differences enough.

It’s somewhat ironic, sad and true. If you look at the news, there is always somebody, somewhere doing their best to push their values and beliefs on others. We could be talking about race, religion, gender, sexual preference and more. It’s a strange world we live in. These ideologies go back a long time. Long before most of us were born. Long before we had education systems, believed in equality and stopped being scared of people who didn’t look or act like we do.

The only thing we have to fear…

As a marketing professional, my job can be defined in simplistic terms: take a brand that sells something similar to another company and position them to be unique. Unique can be in price, quality, experience and more. But, in the end, it is about making them unique. Making them stand out. As much as we say we want these unique things, when it comes to human beings, our neighbors and our communities, it turns out that there is a big segment of our global population that want everyone to be like they are. To act like them, to pray like them, to feel like them and believe what they believe in.

Why?

There are angels among us. Those who will adopt the children that nobody wants in other parts of the world. Those who will care for the elderly that they are not even related to. Those who will teach our children for the parents who have issues of their own. Those who will defend the rights of others even if they, themselves, are not those people. It amazes me that marketers spend the vast majority of their time creating messages for media outlets that are covering a world that seems to be increasingly marginalizing people, while trying to put messaging alongside of it that is unique and different.

Getting tired.

We need to rise above. We need to appreciate and respect the beliefs and customs of others. It may not be how we chose to live our own lives, but it doesn’t make it wrong or immoral. No matter what a book or religion tells us. I’m no preacher. I’m no scholar. I’m just a human being – like you – that is trying to do the right thing. A person that is trying to instill in others a belief that we should encourage and better understand those who are not like us. Why? Because, in the end, we all wind up the same way…

Others.

Appreciate others. Understand others. Try to see how the others live. Because to those people, you are the others. And, in the end, if you are in business and if you are trying to take your professional development to another level, it will be how you define and demonstrate what makes you different, unique and special in a world where people still seem to think that it’s better to have a whole lot of people who believe, act and all follow the exact same thing. That seems bland.

Embrace the others.