Our similarities bring us to a common ground; our differences allow us to be fascinated by each other.
~~Tom Robbins
Fascinated. 
I find this quote so interesting by one of my favorite authors. My friends fit this description. I find them fascinating. They are all different; all smart; all creative.
So are my daughters. Both different, smart, and creative. I got good material in the nature/nurture discussion. I find them fascinating.
How do we find the common ground?
Perhaps it is like planning a program.
You want accomplish something (the outcome of a program in economic, environmental, or social terms). You outline what you want to accomplish, make it fit some criteria. Run the program.
Oops. Somewhere the outcome changed. You go back to the drawing board (The Journal of Irreproducible not withstanding). You look at your logic model and at your theory of change to figure out where the change could have happened. Then, you run the program. Fascinating.
Just like your friends.
If it worked smoothly (or every one was the same), where would you be?
Remember Murphy’s Law? Just like program planning (maybe like making a friend). If it can go wrong, it will.
You have to work to find the fascinating, the uncommon ground. Finding the similarities that are on the surface is easy (relatively); differences are not as obvious and harder to find. Yet, those differences are fascinating.
The planning process is similar to friendships. The similarities are obvious; the differences are not. Work for those differences; make each program unique. It is worth it.
A great post again with a good piece of information, as always. Thanks Molly.
I encountered Murphy’s law (a few days back) while going to the University college. Struck badly in the traffic and soon thought to change my lane. I intended to reach urgently to help a fellow student waiting for me.
What I noticed next, that traffic in all other lanes started moving except mine. But still, I managed to find the fascinating out of it.
So, I believe in the saying (as you explained above) that whatever can go wrong has to go wrong. Like we always expect things to work in our favor. And when things go wrong, we look for the reasons!