What are some things I appreciate about people who are different from me?

The outward differences belie our commonality and shared condition. That scratching the surface I find our similarities far outweigh the differences, that therefore become adornment. Like manners of speech or dress, there are customs observed by groups that endear them to me, and yet, do not make them so foreign as to not see myself mirrored in even their most exotic. An amateur birder (VERY amateur) I marvel at the varieties of, say, Egrets, and yet all of them share the gift of flight. We have religions and forms of government and economies which bring distinctions and draw lines not really worth defending if in themselves they harbor defeat. So they bring me up short, these differences, and force me to take notice. Immersed in a faraway land I can feel alienated until, soon, I recognize ourselves. That is what I appreciate, the underlying kinship.