The ‘why’ of Be more giraffe

 Be more giraffe was originally born out of my desire to respond to the division and conflict that proliferated during the Covid-19 pandemic. Back in 2020, when governments around the world were ordering lockdowns and telling their citizens to stay home, there seemed to be a general sense of “we’re all in this together”. Communities rallied round, people supported each other and we felt largely united by this unprecedented state of affairs. Back then, most of us thought it was a short term situation; in Britain, we were told by our prime minister, “Just two weeks to flatten the curve”.

But as time marched on, and the rules and restrictions grew ever more complicated and far-reaching, I started to notice a growing sense of division amongst friends and acquaintances. Opinions about every aspect of the pandemic became increasingly polarised. Two distinct viewpoints emerged: those who had ‘bought into’ the pandemic situation and thought that it was important to follow the rules, and those who were questioning everything.

What struck me in all of this was the overriding sense in each camp that they were right and the other ‘side’ were wrong – and how vehemently these sentiments were being expressed - especially on social media.

It was the anger and harsh words that led to so many friends and families falling out over the pandemic. In a time when we really needed to be pulling together and coming up with new systems for a world that was already at crisis point, it seemed many of us were tearing each other apart.

When I saw this happening around me, I felt incredibly sad. I knew, at heart, we all wanted the same things: to be free, to be healthy, to see our friends and families, to feel safe and loved. We just had different perceptions about how best to achieve this.

I kept thinking that, maybe if, instead of judging, blaming and criticising, we opened our hearts and truly tried to understand each other’s points of view, we might be able to find a way forward that worked for all of us.

Of course, I realise there was already plenty of division and conflict in the world before the arrival of Covid-19. The pandemic, for me, simply brought it into the spotlight. It was my trigger to really stop, take stock of what was going on in the world around me and to question the human disposition like never before.

It’s now more than five years on and the world is even more divided than ever. The topics may be different but the ‘othering’ mentality seems to be showing up in every aspect of life. Whatever the ‘other’ is, if they have a different opinion, they’re viewed as wrong / stupid / bad / at fault. Fuelled by the modern epidemic of classifying, labelling and stereotyping, ‘othering’ deflects our attention from the humanness beneath the labels.

Be more giraffe is my way of shining a light beyond the labels - onto the compassionate nature that I believe is at the heart of all human beings. Rather than focusing on all that we perceive is wrong with each other, and on what we don’t want, let’s put our energy into creating a better world together: One that values the individual and the whole; where we embrace life and view each other through the lens of compassion rather than judgement.

To learn more on my thoughts about division and conflict, read my blog: Divided we fall.