Different Is Good
In a presidential election year, a year when we have been bombarded with racially-charged national tragedies, the word diversity has gotten a lot of air time. It is established in our lexicon.
The meaning shifts however when we set aside political agendas to consider the merits of diversity on a personal level. Diversity of thought. In this context, diversity simply means different.
Existing in a state of unlikeness or of being different from something or someone can trigger all kinds of responses. Fear or curiosity. Attraction or repulsion.
But before we can truly encounter and engage the nature of someone’s otherness, we are obliged to concede on one essential point…the possibility…that we don’t know everything. A shocking thought, right?
While it may seem obvious, practical experience shows, it is not always our default posture.
We give lip service to open-mindedness all the while separating the world into two distinct groups. Those who get it and those who don’t.
When we are able to own that getting it is just our jargon for someone with whom we are like-minded, we are left to realize that those that don’t “get it” are simply different-minded than us. This awareness can serve as a turning point or at the very least a guidepost. After all, how are we able to learn anything from someone who only thinks, believes, works, or loves the way we do?
In order for us to become more…to think, believe, work or love more deeply than we do today, the only appropriate response to different is curiosity fueled by humility.
When we do this, it is no longer necessary to divide the world into two groups. Individuals go back to being individuals. We are able to celebrate our differences as one of many sunflowers in a field or one of millions of stars in the sky…no better or worse than the next…each with a different journey to make and story to tell.
