TEAM
Ariel Bregman
My name is Ariel Bregman. I am a high school senior in New York City. Having gone to five different schools across two continents, I have never had trouble making friends with people who are different from me.
But as I’ve gotten older, I have noticed a disturbingly high level of polarization among the adults in the world around me. Whether it be our electoral process, or everyday current events, the division is prominent and quite scary.
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I created Our Common Denominators to address this problem.
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It didn’t take long for me to realize that, despite our differences, we had a lot in common. This truth was highlighted for many people in the pandemic: that we are all human beings, and that we are all in this together. But my experience felt especially unique.
I realized that a single, short conversation with an open mind was all it took to change a perspective. My eyes were opened to the possibilities that await when we give ourselves the chance to connect with people who are different from us, with our guard down.
When I returned to the US, I was inspired to create more ways for people to connect over their shared humanity, despite critical differences in backgrounds, political views, or other social constructs. This is what Our Common Denominators aims to do.
Through meaningful conversations across differences, and qualitative data coding, we aim to demonstrate a fundamental truth: that there is more that connects us than divides us.
I spent my sophomore year on a study abroad program in Israel in the height of the pandemic. I had been to Israel as a tourist many times, but up until that year, I had never met a Palestinian person. At Kibbutz Tzuba, located just outside of Jerusalem, in what felt like the eye of a global storm, I became friends with both Israeli and Palestinian teenagers.
