The Others

Who are they to you?

Above: the extraordinary eyes of my granddaughter, Reese Katherine Kelly.

Our world is full of the most beautiful menagerie of people—all colors and shapes and sizes, eyes of chocolate brown and sparkling blue, of green as soothing as spring.

So, in your heart, who is the other?

We all live in very different ways depending on where we were born, some of us full of every advantage, some sweeping dirt floors in a hut. Some find God in a church, and others worship on top of a mountain.

We know this. But we forget as we live mostly in silos of our own making, among people who look the same, dress the same, eat the same sorts of foods, drive the same cars, and so on.

We live in silos online, as well, seeing and reading the thoughts of people who agree with us, often angry with those who don’t.

What this fosters is fear of anyone different, especially for people who live in rural areas and have less exposure to the others.

But, how do seeds of such hate germinate in a college-aged young man that he chooses to set fire to a Jewish synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi? How can someone walk into a Wal-Mart and fire a gun at innocent people?

I will never understand.

One antidote to fear of others is travel— to places that open our eyes and hearts, that pull us out of our comfort zones as we absorb the richness of other cultures. By necessity and choice, we come face-to-face with people who don’t look or live like us, and through conversation and looking them eye-to-eye, we see our shared humanity.

Every single time I travel, I reevaluate my own life, my own habits. I see my blessings with new eyes. I am more open to others.

But everyone doesn’t have the luxury of travel.

So, there is another, powerful antidote: reading.

My book club is a group of strong, kind, intellectual women who have a preference for historical fiction. We read fiction set in many time periods and all over the world. We learn the lessons of history, and get glimpses into the deep beauty of other cultures. We’ve read Lisa See’s The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, set in the tea growing Yunnan Mountains of China, and Kristin Hannah’s The Women, a window into the Vietnam war through the eyes of a combat nurse.

Much like travel, where we leave a new country with new awareness, we put down a good book with fresh understandings, and renewed compassion.

Similarly, reading all sides of the warring issues in our country is crucial. Read everything you can from reputable sources.

Out of curiosity, I asked AI this exact question: What news sources in the United States are most reputable? I copied and pasted the following two paragraphs:

Based on 2025–2026 data, the most trusted U.S. news sources for factual, non-partisan reporting are wire services like the

Associated Press (AP) and Reuters, alongside public broadcasters like NPR and PBS. Major television networks ABC, CBS, and NBC also hold high trust, while The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are considered reputable newspapers of record.

I pray with all my heart that the people of the U.S. can come together, that we can honor the value of our people, no matter their race or religion.

We are all God’s children. Maybe now is a crucial time to ask ourselves, what would Jesus do?