Touching Diversity

Including diverse people in our life sounds simple. It isn’t. Anything but. Think about it. There are many points of diversity within the American people – race, ethnicity, religion, culture, age, gender, gender orientation – and so on. When we realize all of this, and if we are serious about celebrating diversity, then we have to face the reality that accepting diversity into our way of living takes some preparation or readiness.

For example, age diversity; we must be willing to understand points of view fashioned through time with which we are unfamiliar. Land of Goshen! For Pete’s Sake! Well Pity Me That!  Just a few phrases some of our elders might utter and then we scratch our heads admitting we know nothing of what they refer. It’s OK. These are all old expressions born many years ago in recesses of the mind they probably don’t remember! With elders, too, we will need to slow our pace to match their gait. They move slowly now and perhaps a little stooped as well. That requires acceptance, not forbearance!

Youthful enthusiasm requires us to pause and let the youth have their say while we ponder what it means. New words are being used, or old ones in new ways, so understanding is not always quick to form. But their energy is breathtaking and welcome in those of us now elder and unable to move with much agility or speed.

Religious differences are not so hard to accept when we realize that most speak of forgiveness and love. Kindliness, too. No, it’s the dress, rites and creed terms that make us think how we are different and not the same. Some differences put us off when they shouldn’t. What do I care if they fast for 24 hours once a week? I don’t have to follow that practice, and no one expects it of me anyway. Same for ethnic customs. They are interesting – even fascinating – and they help us appreciate life more fully. Being different provides opportunity for enriching our experiences and understanding of others.

All of this is true and much more as well. But there are some problems with diversity precisely because we do not all understand or welcome it in the same manner. Some people fear difference. Some people use difference to demean others so that they feel superior. Others engineer social advantages from diversity, you know, keep someone down so they have opportunity to advance faster and higher than the ‘competition’.

With this unhealthy aspect of diversity present, we have not learned ways to erase the effects of differences. Look how long it took America to accept our African-American brothers and sisters! It took generations. It took a Civil War. It took laws, and brawls and disbelief suffered through before things got better. And they did get better.

But are they fixed? Is Black and White America one and the same? No, sadly, it is not. We still suffer racism in America. Things are better but not perfect by far. One wonders if it ever will be?

Even as we ponder this point we are encountering the same exclusion of Hispanics in our midst. Different cultures and histories are represented by Hispanics. Rich ones and valuable, too. But they are weathering the discrimination most every group with differences have suffered through. The Irish, Germans, Scandinavians, Indians, Asians – the list goes on and on – faced similar discrimination here in America. This is ‘the land of the free and the yearning masses wishing to break free’ we lionize on the Statue of Liberty. This is the country where we welcome everyone regardless of their creed, color, ethnicity, or whatever.

Until we don’t!

And the instances of ‘don’t’ outnumber the opposite. How sad we do not live up to our own values we claim to have. The melting pot of America is what enriches us. It empowers us as well. It enlarges not only our hearts, but our minds as well. Imagine the wealth of discovery through difference! Touch it. Feel it. Welcome it.

I spend time with alcoholics and drug addicts. They are all wonderful fully alive human beings. Many of you spend time with elderly people living in retirement homes and assisted living centers. You don’t just sense the richness of these people, you listen for it, see it and fell it. It is very real. Yes, you can touch this diversity.

Same with African-Americans, Hispanics and any others of ethnic diversity and skin tone. The food. The music. The customs. So much more is different from our way of doing things and living life. But at the core they are happy, feeling, communicative people involved in each others’ lives. Just as we are in ours. These are real and touchable.

As an organization I work with contemplates its hope to include people of diversity in its work, I hope we can reach out and touch what is different so it becomes less of a barrier to being one community. I think the secret of success will be allowing ourselves to be touched.

We will never know unless we try. We will need to be open to vulnerability to touch and be touched. When both are present I suspect we will know it.

And then we can sigh an Amen!

February 3, 2016