On New Years Eve, we took an Uber to Brooklyn for dinner with friends. My husband asked our driver, Mamadou, from Guinea “How was your 2016?” He laughed. “Best year yet! I married the love of my life.” 

I instantly smiled from ear to ear and said, “Us too.”  

He got super excited and shared this with us: “Love is the most important thing. See, I am a Muslim. In my religion we believe two is better than one. When two people find each other, that’s when great things happen. Humanity needs love, like it needs water. Water needs Hydrogen and Oxygen to exist. See the power of two! I now know I truly need my wife to exist in this world. We are stronger together. That is why I am so happy this year.”

How beautiful is that? Here is this Muslim man not preaching anything, but the power of love. The power of two becoming one. 

My heart was so warmed as I left his car. All I could think was we are two completely different people, who come from different backgrounds, different religions, a different part of the world, but yet we are so much the same. We both searched for love. Prayed for it. This year we both found it.

I share this message as we start 2017, because I know how divided our world seems. But I am reminded how connected we truly are. It’s really easy to allow ourselves to fall into the traps of fear with the media, angry articles, and hateful posts, but what if we choose to allow love and conversation guide us? How will that change the way we perceive the World we live in? 

Ask yourself; how often do I genuinely connect with a stranger? We could have been silent in our car ride with Mamadou. More often then not I say to myself, “God, I hope this person isn’t chatty!” But with those thoughts what am I creating? A more disconnected World? I don’t know. What I do know is I’m glad we engaged in a conversation that night. That I now know about “The Power of Two.” This year I’m going to strive to engage more. Let us come together to create more water in 2017 and allow love to put out the World’s fires.