Nearly twenty years ago, a young Lionel Messi stood beside a mother and her five-month-old baby during a UNICEF photo shoot in Barcelona. No one in that room could have imagined the extraordinary journey ahead.
The young man would become one of the greatest football players in history.
The baby would grow up to become Lamine Yamal, one of the brightest stars of a new generation.
Today, the world may look at Messi and Yamal and see two competitors. We may choose teams, wave different flags, and passionately argue over who should win. But an old photograph reminds us of something we too often forget: before the world gives us labels, before it divides us into nations, religions, races, ethnicities, and competing sides, we are human beings.
That is the essence of pluralism.
Pluralism does not ask us to abandon our identities or our loyalties. An Argentine can cheer for Argentina, and a Spaniard can cheer for Spain. We can love our nations, our cultures, our faiths, and our traditions. Pluralism simply asks us to respect the humanity of those standing on the other side.
The football field provides a beautiful example. Two teams compete fiercely for ninety minutes. They want to defeat each other. Yet when the game ends, they shake hands, exchange jerseys, embrace, and walk away with respect.
Imagine if we practiced politics, religion, and international relations with the same spirit.
We can disagree without dehumanizing one another. We can compete without hatred. We can belong to different communities without believing that another community must lose for ours to succeed.
The photograph of Messi and baby Yamal has captured the world’s imagination because we now know what neither of them could have known then. But perhaps its deeper beauty is found in what the photograph does not show. It does not show borders. It does not show rivalry. It does not show one human being as superior to another.
It simply shows people sharing a moment of care.
Years later, their paths are connected once again—not only through football, but through UNICEF and its mission for children. Messi has served as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2010, and Yamal joined that mission in 2026. Their shared commitment reminds us that beyond every championship and every national jersey lies a responsibility that belongs to all of us: to create a world in which every child has the opportunity to grow, play, dream, and reach their potential.
Perhaps that is the lesson we should carry beyond the stadium.
Cheer for your team. Celebrate your identity. Be proud of where you come from.
But never forget the humanity of the person wearing the other jersey.
Because long before we become competitors, opponents, Republicans or Democrats, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, believers or nonbelievers, we belong to one human family.
Our differences make the world beautiful. Our respect for those differences makes coexistence possible.
That is pluralism.
— Dr. Mike Ghouse
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Dr. Ghouse is the President and founder of the Center for Pluralism and director of the World Muslim Congress. He is an Interfaith Wedding Officiant for InterfaithMarriages.org and a Muslim Wedding Officiant. He is a Muslim, Pluralist, activist, speaker, author, and social scientist. More on Google