Is Living United Worth the Fight?
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April White |
TEDxAlmansorParkLive
• April 2022
Our world today seems to be splitting at the seams. Everywhere you look, differences produce division, judgment and, in some cases, violence. It doesn't have to be that way. April White has an answer to the chaos.
After years of estrangement from her devout Christian parents, April's journey of self reflection led to a reckoning with her own self-perception. She regained those lost bonds and learned that sometimes, the things we judge in other people are the same traits we dislike in ourselves.
She now believes we can use the actions we dislike in others as a tool to achieve a more authentic, united life. To do this takes trust and respect in your own—and each other's—inherent value. In other words, we must see—and trust—the good in others—and ourselves.
As the owner of an international PR agency on a mission to redefine traditional PR with an emphasis on trust, April understands how challenging it can be to live united in an era of political polarization and sociopolitical hypersensitivity. And she has come to realize the same bitterness, intolerance and sense of "otherhood" April experienced with her family is happening all around us: in the news, at work, with friends.
Now, she's on a mission to show others that learning to love and live with enemies (or those we strongly disagree with) isn't about getting them to change—or waiting for them to see they're wrong. It's about seeing what unrefined or outsourced part of yourself they represent and then reclaiming and refining it. Because every individual has inherent value we must honor in order to come into our own sense of wholeness—as individuals, as a nation and as a global community.