Missionaries returning home from foreign countries and, having learned a new language, often refer to the fact that although people speak different languages, the language of the spirit is the same. The gospel spirit is the same everywhere. They say we are all truly brothers and sisters. With recent events in the Middle East and the cruelty being expressed by those in that part of the world, it makes it a little more difficult to imagine universal brotherhood. But those of us who understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Father’s Plan of Salvation and Progression will also understand that before coming here we were all the spirit sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. That actually makes us brothers and sisters. With the exception of the third part of us who elected to follow the rebel, Satan, we all agreed to or elected to be born to earth. As our time came to do so, we would, in innocence, be born and we would take the chance of being strong enough to overcome the temptations that we would be confronted with. We knew we would not be alone, but that we would be born into a family with a mother and father and possibly siblings that would help us get a start. We would select friends—friends that would hopefully be a strength to us, and together we would support and aid one another in overcoming temptations and desires that would hinder our progression and/or lead to physical harm or even destruction.
It is interesting to me to know that supportive brothers/sisters must have many things in common. If we do not, we may have conflicts. The less common, the greater chance of conflicts. What I mean by common includes: backgrounds, beliefs, friends, even experiences. The fewer of these commonalities, the less likely that we will be or feel comfortable with one another. People from the same country, from the same city or town, and people from the same neighborhood will have more in common and have more things to relate to than they will have with total strangers. They will be more comfortable because they have common things to talk about. There are people who have become universal travellers, and they become comfortable anywhere they travel.
Would that we could all recognize in others their humanness, regardless of where they came from and regardless of their nationalities. Though we may not be comfortable because of the cultural differences, we all have common human traits, more things in common than not. Most all of us understand the need for love, and we will all respond to tenderness and to kindness. We all are the offspring of a loving Creator, even our Heavenly Father. We may not all describe Him the same or see Him in the same light, nevertheless we all look to someone or something for tender understanding when we are stressed and all alone. In that regard we are “brother’s all.”