It’s hardwired, says the instructor,
explaining that all of us tend to identify
more with people who are more like us.
It’s a survival tool from ancient times,
she says, to put people like us in an in group,
and to label the others other.
I take notes. Raise my hand. Participate.
Do exercises that show that although
I say I have no preferences, my limbic brain
has its own opinion. And so
I dedicate myself to finding
the ways we are all alike, uncovering
the ways we all mirror each other—
vulnerable, strong, curious, cautious,
I pledge myself to our common humanity,
to notice my bias and question it.
It’s a survival tool for the present time,
I tell myself. Every one of us, a sliver
of divinity.