Some things that we humans should learn from Atoms.
We tend to think in terms of competition. “McDonalds vs. Burger King.” “America vs. Soviet Union.” “Whites vs. Blacks.” This mindset is the single greatest hindrance to our development as a human race.
Atoms have a form of bonding called covalent bonding where two completely different nuclei bond by sharing the one thing they have in common…. an electron.
Instead of seeking to annihilate foreign objects when we encounter them, why don’t we seek to co-opt them? Even if the Soviets have a vastly different atomic weight and a different atomic structure, can’t we find some shared electrons? And can’t we respect their space?
Atoms aren’t interested in competition. They’re interested in cooperation.
Atoms manage to build incredibly beautiful and useful structures by sharing what they both have in common. An iron atom does not give up its ironic nature when it bonds with carbon. It shares what it has in common (the electrons) and reserves what its nucleus for itself And both parties grow stronger, not weaker!
(That’s a discussion for another day. Sure, we’re a little different at the core, but not much. Just like atoms, any two people from completely disparate cultures will have pretty much the same values and desires. Maybe we vary dramatically in distribution, but not in composition.)
We’ve been trained to think “cooperation” means “submission.” If you begin working with the Africans, you had better be prepared to find yourself wholly Africanized…. from your culture and dress to your food and music.
But that’s ridiculous. As atoms show, it’s possible to build molecules, cells, organisms, and WHOLE PLANETS if you will simply focus on what you have in common, while still maintaining your identity. We ought to focus more on what we have in common with other people. If our goal was cooperation, and not conquest, we might actually get somewhere on this planet.
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