What do you really want from your life? What do you think your elderly neighbor wants? What do you think the guy who packs your groceries wants? What do you think the young mother in Afghanistan wants? What do you think your child wants?

I think, I believe, that we all want the same thing – fulfillment, completion, being made whole. I go about finding my fulfillment, my completion, differently than you may, differently than a man may, differently than someone living in the Middle East may. We may all go about it differently, and we may all define it differently, but I believe we all want to feel whole, complete, and we want it to be lasting. Not fleeting.

So, play along with me here, if we all want the same things, why do we not celebrate our sameness? Our similarities? Why must we focus on the differences? On that which sets us apart? I can be an individual and still want the same things as you. I can have red hair, you can have sandy brown hair, I can be Christian, you can be Jewish, agnostic, Muslim, I can be a woman, you can be a child, but we can still want the same things.

I recently went to a charity music event at a church (the acoustics were amazing!) that featured The Interfaith Connection. This musical group is made up of men and women from Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faiths that join their musical talents and voices in song to unite everyone in the room. It was magical at times. Songs that we all know, songs not ‘owned’ by any one religion or secular group, were sung in a round robin style in three or more languages at once. For a few moments, I actually felt the resonance of the world, of everyone in the room, young and old, from many different countries, from many different religions, all joined and cradled for that moment by the music, music that united everyone.

When it all comes down to it, we are all human. We all have a mom. We all want to live our lives to the fullest. And if we have children, we all want to see our children grow up, become adults and find their own fulfillment, their own happiness, and their own completion. Without the pain we may have known. Without having to bear any of the suffering that currently exists in our world today.

So I ask you to treat your neighbors, the seemingly rude woman at the market, the young out of control child, and the elderly gentleman in front of you, with the knowledge that they want what you want. That ultimately, regardless of language barriers, religious barriers, social barriers and yes, even, political barriers, we are all here for a reason. And we are all in search of that reason – trying to find it and fulfill it and complete it. And most of us are doing it the best way we know how.