Celebrate Diversity
While living in India, the word diversity was not part of my vocabulary. Everyone around me looked alike, spoke the same language, ate the same kind of food, and belonged to the same religion. The caste system among Hindus in some parts of India and the denominational differences among Christians did not rise to the level of triggering the need for diversity training for employees in a company or for citizens in a mostly homogeneous nation.
As far as diversity among animals, plants, and other creatures, I had no conscious awareness about that warranting my attention.
I never witnessed a cat arguing with a cow or a cucumber competing with a cantaloupe or a mango tree fighting with a papaya tree, or a white dog discriminating against a black dog.
Maybe my hope for the biblical promise of a “lamb lying with the lion” made me overlook those things.
Nevertheless, years later it dawned on me that, had humans followed the example of animals, plants, and nature at large, humanity could have averted many global tragedies and catastrophes.
As a species, had we acknowledged and celebrated diversity, atrocities like crusades, wars, and slavery could have been avoided. Viruses like racism, sexism, and homophobia would not have infected individuals and contaminated communities.
The fact that the Earth is a very diverse place is obvious and obscure at the same time — plainly obvious, but usually hidden from our day-to-day consciousness.
We may know about alligators, antelopes, anteaters, bears, bullocks, buffaloes, cows, camels, and cats (I am only up to letter ‘c’) but there are 2 million species of animals on Earth. We may know doves, ducks, and chickens, but there are 9956 species of birds. We have seen salmon, sardines, and trout, but there are 30,000 species of fish. Have you ever stood in front of an aquarium and watched those beautiful fish with different colors and textures?
We may have seen cobras, crocodiles, and lizards, but there are 8240 species of reptiles. We may be familiar with cockroaches, crickets, and termites, but there are 950,000 kinds of insects. We may have a mango tree, a palm tree, or a coconut tree in our backyard, but there are 297,000 varieties of plants and trees on this Earth.
I haven’t even mentioned the diversity among humans:
Among the nearly eight billion humans on Earth, not one is the same as any other.
Every time I am with a group of fellow humans, I make it a point to observe the faces of people around me. While everyone has a face, not one face is like any other.
The awareness that the Creator neither repeats nor duplicates, always fills me with amazement and awe.
Faced with such mind-boggling diversity around us, how can we live in the confining cocoon of our narrow minds? I know we like uniformity. Strangers make us nervous. People who look different from us make us uncomfortable. Some people would like to build a wall around our country to prevent others from entering. When we think like that, we are going against the ethos of the Earth which is to accommodate, appreciate, and celebrate diversity.
When we fight against the ethos of the Earth, we become fearful, miserable earthlings.
(from Cosmic Kindergarten: Earthly Lessons for a Heavenly Life)
