Photo credit: midorisyu (flickr)

I like to view the world as a place of endless opportunity. There are new things to learn, ways to think, places to visit, and people to meet.

Life is simply a gift of time that we are given to experience the world.

This is great in theory, but in practice, things are often very different. Although most people have a great deal of freedom, many don’t exercise it as much as they should.. or could.

When studying myself and the world around me, it seems there are two strong human tendencies that contribute to this. I find both to be unfortunate. They tend to stagnate lives, and generally make the world a worse place to live in.

1) We are limited by our background

We are often limited by our life experiences, many of which were not under our control. We can’t control who our parents are, how they chose to raise us, the country we were raised in, the family financial situation, etc. But nevertheless, our past has a strong hold on our present, and often our future.

Here are a few examples:

Career. Many people follow a linear career path centered around an area of interest. They often choose this area of interest early on, get schooling, get a job, and then climb the ladder in that area. What if they had picked something else? What if they had been exposed to more? Would they do something different? Should they have done something different?

Religion. I was not raised with a religion. Besides my one year of Christianity, I identify as agnostic. Many of my friends were raised Christian. Today, they are Christian. Some were raised Buddhist. And today, they are Buddhist. There is a pattern here.

Location. Growing up in Bay Area, I know many people who have barely left California. Some have barely left the Bay Area! It is like this almost everywhere. Small town folks tend to stay in their small towns. Many big city folk love their big city.

The point is, our background puts us into a box. And it becomes easy to stay within this box.

And what happens when we look outside of this box?

2) We are naturally prejudiced against that which is different

When encountering something different, we have a tendency to become defensive and negative by default.

Our lives are just fine. Why consider something different?

Again, here are a few examples:

Career. Engineers think that business folk are stupid douchebags. Business folk think that engineers are dorky code monkeys that exist to build out their ideas. Academics value their ivory tower and often look down on industry jobs. Industry people think academics are in one large delusional circle jerk with their heads stuck up their butts.

Religion: Those who are religious often believe they are right, and the others are wrong. Those without religion think all of them are wrong. This isn’t necessarily that bad, except for the animosity that can come from it. What kind of animosity? Wars.. lots of wars.

Location. Californians are liberal, hippy, tree-huggers. New Yorkers are asshole investment bankers. Everyone in Miami and LA is shallow. Small town folk have narrow minds. What else? Feel free to insert your favorite location-based stereotype here.

And the list goes on.

Historically, white people had a difficult time with those of color in the US. Today straight people have a difficult time with gay people.

We tend to not like that which is different.. and that is very unfortunate.

What to do.

Be aware of these tendencies. Help others be aware of them too.

Don’t let your past take a hold of you. Choose your own personal future, and make it happen.

When you step outside the bounds of your own personal experiences, you may find yourself reacting negatively to what you find. If you do, stop yourself for a second. Do you really understand the situation? Probably not.

So here is my memo to the world:

The world is your oyster. Recognize that box you are in. Step out of it. And show some respect for what you find on the outside.

You may just find what is right for you.