More that Unites Us by Amy Madsen

I don’t think I am alone in the observation that it feels like our collective ability to get along with each other has diminished during COVID. My kids’ recreational soccer season just ended and the local league administration had to send not one, not two, but three emails on “sportsmanship”, reminding adults to treat each other, the coaches, the referees, and even the children with respect.

It’s hard to not get bogged down by the divisiveness, intolerance, and rudeness that seems to rule the day.

It is with that frame that I sat down for a conversation with a leading feminist from Myanmar, not knowing what to expect. We grew up worlds apart and I think I am a generation or two older. After a few pleasantries, she started our conversation with, “My name is Nandar. I think my feminist journey started as early as I can remember, but I didn’t have the words to express my activism or the action I was taking. Even as a young child I was very rebellious, asking difficult questions to my parents and to my neighbors. They were so fixated on that women have to be this way and men have to be this way. And I didn’t quite like it from an early age.”

And that’s all it took.

I felt an immediate bond with Nandar. I recognized that she, like me, was an individual who wasn’t just willing to accept the status quo, without asking tough questions. It reminded me of when I was a second-grader in Catholic school and I asked my teacher Sister Ann in religion class, “If Jesus was Jewish, why are we Catholic?”

When we take the time to sit down and really listen to each other, it becomes quickly apparent there is more that unites us than divides us, regardless of generational differences, continental divides, and vastly different upbringings. Ultimately, we all desire safety and security, economic prosperity, self-determination, and the ability to make a better future for the next generation.

Stay tuned, in the coming weeks, for more of my conversation with Nandar!