Delighting in Differences

I am a lifelong fan of Star Trek (I religiously watched reruns of the original series starting in 1972 when I was in third grade). Here is a quote from the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry; you can find more Roddenberry wisdom at Wikiquote. This idea about science fiction is, in my opinion, what also inspires great storytelling in general:

Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms. […] If we cannot learn to actually enjoy those small differences, to take a positive delight in those small differences between our own kind, here on this planet, then we do not deserve to go out into space and meet the diversity that is almost certainly out there.