I really think that where we lose people is when we lose the ability to relate to them. The moment that you’re not able to relate to a young person, you’ve lost them. The moment you feel like you can’t relate on any grounds to a person of a different race, you’ve lost them.
I feel like our strongest “power” is the ability to influence, and the way that we can influence people is to let them know that we can relate to them or their situation somehow. If we can’t relate to them then what can we tell them?
I understand it’s hard to relate to everyone. People are judgmental, so more times than not, we judge a book by its cover, unfortunately. We shun information because it comes from a white person or black person. We laugh at rich people who talk about their struggles. And we stereotype men when they try to understand a woman’s plight.
Although an environment has been created to not be relatable, it’s the people who find the ability to relate that thrive in this situation. I think one of the things that has driven young people away is the fact that they haven’t been able to relate to older people. And older people haven’t made an effort to relate either. Both sides are at fault, and neither has done anything about it.
Young people forget older people have seen and done all this already. Older people forget their own rebellion in their younger days as well. I guess all I’m saying is that there are some gaps that need to be bridged in this country. I believe that if we all sought grounds to relate on instead of differences to focus on, we’d be a lot better off. We have the power of influence in any situation, and we have the power of choice to choose to influence for a good reason. To understand a person is a good reason.
Lose your ability to relate, lose your influence, lose your “power.”