The more we spend time with people unlike ourselves, doing things together, the more understanding, tolerant, and even friendly we become.
And yet, increasingly, most of us spend less and less time with people who are different - as defined by age, race, or class, earning power or education.
The pandemic may have forced us apart, but it also reminded us of what we share and value. We witnessed the power of community, connection and common cause. And we saw clearly the urgent work that needs to be done to tackle the barriers that stand in the way of full, equal-status participation and flourishing for everyone in society.
Emerging from the crisis, we now have an unprecedented opportunity to bridge our divides and forge a new 'Common Life' - a set of shared practices and institutions - that can strengthen the glue that bonds our societies, in all their diversity.
For the health of our democracy, our society, and our economy, the time to act is now.
Related media
-
Last Word: JOMO
Comment
Kaveri Gopalakrishnan
Goa-based illustrator and art director Kaveri Gopalakrishnan, draws a contemplative piece on looking back into the past.
-
Democracy at work
Comment
Jeremy Fox
Hand the company over to the workers? Madness said the critics. But Jeremy Fox’s exercise in democracy grew the business and made his former employees richer. The only problem? They had to be persuaded to take holidays
-
'Spaces of Hope'
Comment
Climate change, a cost of living crisis, war in Ukraine, the fallout from Brexit… sometimes it can seem we live in a time of constant uncertainty. But amid the crises, Dr Matthew Barber-Rowell has been finding, curating and nurturing 'Spaces of Hope'