As humans, we are more alike than we are different.However, I have always found it very enriching to meet people from other cultures and to learn how we are different. Sometimes an understanding of differences brings us closer together as we learn to appreciate each other more deeply. But sometimes differences seem to allow no compromise, and then we are challenged to strengthen our communication by returning to focus on the ways in which we are alike.The real connections between people are usually made on a feeling, rather than a purely intellectual, level (empathy based on an understanding of love of family or friends, for example). Basic human nature is to be loving, caring, trusting, and joyful. Any disruption that we note in these qualities results from deprivation of some kind, unmet human need, tragedy that led to wounds that have not healed. All great world religions share common values (the importance of love, kindness, fairness). Nations have arrived at agreements that these qualities exist in nature (natural law), and they represent the underlying purpose of the United Nations, as well as of international treaties. Beyond cultural and historical differences there are shared moral values that are not man-made and that must be respected by all humans. These are what we also know as human rights, including the rights of children, and now with growing environmental awareness, the world is growing closer to an awareness of the rights of all living things.