We are so divided these days.
In politics.
In the settings.
In our sense of right and wrong.
But are we really so different?
Most of us have the same wants and needs, the same aspirations and motivations.
We seek love. We work to give the best we can to our loved ones. We try to make our parents proud. We try to protect our children and instill a sense of joy and worth in them so that they will one day be able to live and thrive on their own. We endure loss. And whether through the natural aging process or the emergency of an unexpected health crisis, we think about our legacy as we face our own mortality; and what we leave behind for those we love.
Over the next few months, Free Press photographer Mandi Wright and I will be telling the stories of people confronting these universal truths, these rites of passage, in a series called “First Times.”
Today we tell the story of a man who wants to thank his parents for their sacrifices by showing them what he can do on the football field. Over the next few weeks we tell the story of a girl who gets her first bike under unusual circumstances. We tell the story of a woman who realises for the first time that the only certainty in life is death. We tell stories about people who overcome challenges and how, despite the best intentions, sometimes things don’t work out.
And perhaps these stories will not divide us further, but rather remind us that when we look beyond all the distractions and noise, we are ultimately not so different after all.
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