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I have been hearing the word unity a lot lately. Its meaning, according to the dictionary, is “a state of being united or joined as a whole.“ It also has a mathematics definition. The number one is also called unity. Unity is a word that never meant much to me except for its importance, but I can see this word’s meaning becoming something applied in all areas of life. In a marriage, in a business, in a school, in a church, in a community and in government, having a united body is the key to unlocking movement forward. A united group of people, striving for a common goal is powerful.

I think of sports and those super bowl powerhouse teams that worked together and succeeded over a long season of pulling together and making a play when it was needed most. To have a common goal and a strategy on how to achieve this goal. In just about every team sport, if you do not have unity, you only go so far before you’re exposed.

If we take a look out there at the world today we can see a lot of separation, segregation and lines being drawn. This causes discontent, oppression and overall negativity when looking across the imaginary line that has been drawn in whatever the conflict. We say we are working together, but instead we throw rocks at each other in glass houses in the form of social media posts, debates, news media reporting and sometimes by withdrawing from all conflict whatsoever. In doing this, we destroy the actual process of becoming united, and divide even more, sometimes even destroying things and people that we actually love all for the sake of trying to change a person’s mindset or proving them wrong.

We all bring something to the table. We have all lived a unique life. Our own life experiences and circumstances give us a clear vision of where we have been, what we have overcome and where we want to go. Sometimes the obstacles take hard choices to get around, over or through. Those hard choices make us who we are. Bad decisions and good decisions mold us as we move forward and prepare us to tackle the next challenge as it arises. Hopefully we learn from the negative things and build foundation from the good things.

If we break this down even further and get more focused, we begin to see that we have all been affected by our choices, our parents’ choices and the choices of the people with whom we surround ourselves. The atmosphere of a job, community, church or anything else important to us can influence us to sway one way or another in an ununified environment, sometimes even swaying us against the very foundations our lives were built upon.

We need to become unified. As families, as a church body, as a community and, yes, even as a country. We need to be able to find the common ground and work toward solutions and not destruction. We need to stop throwing each other under the “my opinion matters more” bus and start actually listening and working together to achieve, not to tear down.

I see students, people and leaders every day only believing what they have experienced and never digging deeper. Never trying to see the other side of the mountain, just being content that their side is the best side and that is all that matters. But if you’re willing to walk around to their side, listen to their perspective and then find common ground, then and only then can we start to move forward. It is while standing at the peak together that the keys are given, and we unlock the door to greatness and walk on through together. Unity is the key. We don’t have to give up our own ideas and lives to have a conversation about the future. We just need to stop throwing rocks in glass houses and use the keys to walk through the door, and the key is unity. I’m Jess Saying.