Belonging Through Exclusion

Favoritism often masquerades as a path to belonging—we favor those 'like us' to feel safe and seen. Yet this strategy backfires: exclusion breeds anxiety, as we become complicit in the very rejection we fear. Rabia's vision of legacy and community reveals a different path. True belonging arises not from favoring a chosen few, but from extending radical hospitality and love to all. When we practice favoritism, we fragment the community and damage our own sense of security because we know we might one day be the unfavored one. The cost is profound alienation masked as intimacy. By consciously including those we instinctively exclude, we model the boundless community Rabia envisioned—one where belonging is unconditional, not contingent on status, resemblance, or utility. This transforms both individual identity and collective cohesion.