The word "special" is one of the most used words in this current age. There were times where this word didn't had this much weight behind it, times where the people had other worries and ideals, and the priorities were different. The human species is immense and has a lot of story, and every single individual has infinite necessities, besides the basic one's (like hunger and thirst) needed for survival, there are still a number of necessities needed to live, giving us meaning and a reason to survive. These necessities changed throughout the years, evolving side by side with the species, but there are no infinite resources to satisfy all these necessities, so management is necessary to solve this problem. That is the base of all problems, and since the human isn't a god like being, we have limits, so we must face a problem at a time. Every time we solve a problem, there is another around the corner, and that's the main reason we keep on evolving and changing, until we got to our current stage. We solved so many problems that our quality of life increased dramatically, and now instead of focusing on the survival necessities, we focus on the living necessities, which also made us be more aware of our existence and question our purpose, thinking of how to live the best life. That's what made us realize that there were people in really bad places, like the slaves or the homosexuals, that's when we begun to change for the better in that case. Now a days we are a long way in our fight for life quality for everyone, and now believe that everyone is special, since we are all unique and different, even use the word special to empower the ones who need our help the most. That's why special is the name of this chapter of humankind. But this is also a dangerous chapter, since this topic can be a double sided knife. Now that everyone has their minds thinking they're focus is life quality, and they can achieve it because they're special and have they're own unique traces. So they open up their minds to reflection, trying to find what makes them special, like it was an object, they end up stumbling against a realization of simple logic: "If everyone is special, no-one is", we still move as a species and community, even though everyone is different, and when people realize these things disappointment and desperation hits, leading them to keep reflecting on existence and get further and further away from their goal of life quality. This is why nowadays there are so many people with depression and the number of suicides is bigger, and I can only imagine those of us who live in country's with problems in the survival necessities area, if they heard about this kind of life and how so many people are self destructing, they would lose all hope. We may spread positivity to try and avoid people to get into these depressions but this is not something we can help them solve like that. After going in that well, the person has to manage to climb his way out, or else he may never find the answer that he was looking in the first place, it would be a temporary solution to help them climb. We must keep on living our life's while keeping an empty seat for the person in the well, so that he learns to climb out to seat with you. You see, it is true that everyone and everything is different and that may make it look like nothing is special, but it does not change the fact that they are still different from one another, and that makes them special, how it looks to us is irrelevant, its not gonna change the universe, it will keep on being special because it is unique and was made through many and many trillions of years. If you will keep looking for answers like if it was a lost sock in your bedroom, you will never find them, you will end up finding more problems. Go out of the well and seat on that empty seat your friend left open for you, and when you notice, you involuntarily found the answer and closed the well. I apologize if my English wasn't perfect in this text, I'm only now starting to write and English is not my language, so there could be some mistakes.

I was born in Eastern Nigeria. Here, we Easterners referred to as Igbos and who are majorly Christians, have always nursed an embittered past against those who inhabit the Northern (majorly Muslims) part of the country. As kids, we were often told stories about the 1967-70 Nigerian civil war— an account of our years of fight with the Northerners. In this version of war story, and perhaps in most other versions, we were the victim. For years, this story grew from becoming a part of me, to becoming me. I had no idea what I had transformed into. On several occasions, I made derogatory remarks about these my fellow countrymen. I detested them regardless of who they were or what they had to offer as humans. To me, people were not worth associating with if they came from the North and if they were Muslim. Erroneously, I saw the world through a darkness formed deep within me. However, my first attempt to question this bitterness was through the essay, “Journey of All” by young Alline Kabbatende; and my second is the prevalent coronavirus pandemic which has led to the death of over 444,000 persons worldwide, according to data published by the World Health Organization on June 18, 2020. Now, when I look around, I find it overwhelming to think that these complicated geographies that have separated us over the years could be traced into an overlap by two very distinct things: a pandemic and Alline's writing. More than ever, we have witnessed the evolution of a new bond. From Africa to South America, mankind seem to have found a way— although very much painful— back to one another. We have become more concerned about the general wellbeing. We saw the arrival of Cuban doctors in Italy to help in the fight against coronavirus. And regardless of the pandemic's impact on the economy, we saw world leaders pledge an additional $8.8 billion to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to fund the immunization of children in the world's poorest countries. All these buttress an obvious concern for one another at the moment. But one question is yet unanswered: After this, what next? There is no misgiving that before now, the communal tie that held us together was beginning to split. There were religious crises, unhealthy trade wars, inter-ethnic disharmony and talks about nuclear weapons. However, the curves seem to have flattened as we, in one collective mental awakening, have realized the essence of enjoining to fight our common enemy— coronavirus. But what then happens after this pandemic is over? Whatever is our answer, we cannot overrule the fact that over the course of our existence, we have witnessed several occurrences that tend to separate us into discrete groups. Racism, for instance, heightens our consciousness about skin colour. Inequalities classify us. Invariably, all these translate into perceptions that misguide us to believe that we differ entirely, with no justification to come together. Reading “Journey of All” made me see the world as a human family— one whose sustenance hinges on the interdependence between its members. In reality though, there are bound to be skepticisms. I wouldn't expect a Jew who has heard about the Holocaust, a victim of the 1994 Rwandan genocide or a Syrian whose life is at risk because of his faith, to hastily accept this idea. No, I understand their misgiving and it is not irrational. What I ask us, therefore, is not that we shut our eyes, but that we look beyond this darkness and see humanity for what it truly should be. And unless we look deliberately, we would never be able to see. Hence, it's a fact that this human family depends on our individual efforts for its survival. What I do, personally, is to spread this viewpoint within my own circle. I believe that an idea is akin to a seed. If well planted, it grows to influence one's perceptions and, in turn, one's responses to things and people around him. Therefore, I'm always conscious to chip in this idea of human interdependence in my conversations with others, my writings, social media posts and lifestyle. Whenever I tell people that our differences in race, nationality, gender, ethnicity and religion, exist to foster, rather than deter, our collective growth— I often hope it would open their eyes to see the world's interrelatedness. But beyond that, I hope it would open their hearts. Imagine a world where you barely care about the country next to yours and where all that matters to you is your survival? That is exactly the world we lived in prior to coronavirus outbreak, and it is inadvisable to return there when all this is finally over. Daily, I struggle with prejudice just like everyone else. But in our struggles, we must always remember that no weapon is more hazardous than a heart unwilling to accept someone else as part of the human family. Only when we understand and act towards this, can we create a sustainable world for ourselves and our children.