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Celebrating Our Diversity

notes from Janey . . .

A car passed us one day while Tupelo and I were driving across the southeastern desert of the U.S. in our motorhome, Bailey. As it zoomed by I caught a glimpse of the bumper sticker on its tail end. “Celebrate Diversity,” it read. “Ooh, I like that,” I said, and proceeded to have many miles of pleasure thinking it over.

I don’t know the driver’s reason for plastering this statement onto his bumper for the entire world to see, but I came up with a long list of my own. As a traveler, I agree wholeheartedly about celebrating the world’s diversity – its peoples, its languages, its customs, its different ways of looking at things, and the big one — its spirituality and many religions.

It seemed to be such a simple statement at first: Celebrate diversity.

Oh yes, let’s do that, shall we?

The deeper I thought about it, the more complicated it got. In this tumultuous time when the world is splitting apart because of the different ways we look at God and the opposing interpretations of religious teachings, the simple sentence isn’t as innocent as it first appears. Now we have to question our beliefs and see if we truly can celebrate how different some of the world’s peoples act in the name of God. One is waging war on infidels, the other on terrorists. It’s hard to draw a solid line between what is right and what is wrong and then decide which side we are on. Diversity is dividing us.

If we choose to not take a side, then yes, we can celebrate with a clear heart the diversity of the world in all of its guises and contradictions. But it’s not easy. It’s hard to stay objective and loving in the face of so much hate. But who said personal and spiritual growth would be easy? Not me.

And perhaps the tougher question: How do we celebrate the diversity in ourselves? How can we celebrate who we truly are and not become so judgmental it’s to our detriment, not to our enlightenment?

We are complicated creatures. Our emotional stew is made up of so many ingredients it has kept therapists’ couches warm for centuries. And our mental state? Oh man, I don’t even want to think about that. And there are so many conflicting philosophies and beliefs when it comes to our own personal spirituality we’re afraid we might die and go to hell before we find which is the right path to be walking on.

If we want to celebrate diversity in the world, we must first celebrate the diversity in ourselves. If we can, change what can’t be celebrated, embrace that which can’t be changed — for instance, what Dr. Carl Jung’s called our shadow. We are not all good and not all bad and when it comes to choosing sides, we need to be on our side, no matter what.

Bumper stickers are one thing, putting the sentiment into action is another.

Celebrate diversity. Oh yes, let’s do that, shall we?