Diversity is a word that has been hijacked, especially with regard to our fellow human beings, and, worse, made to seem dirty—”if you are different from me, you are bad, and should be either eliminated or homogenized.”

In fact, the real world we all live in survivess—actually thrives—only because it is diverse.

I look out the window at the yard to see incredible beauty, a diverse landscape, one that constantly amazes and inspires. It is a diverse landscape, both strong and stable, and yet also able to adapt as needed.

Perhaps many of us have grown too used to seeing acre upon acre of corn being grown to feed the cars we drive and the animals we eat and, we’ve come to expect people are also all the same. That lack of diversity is not normal and is also vulnerable.

Of course, for countless reasons unrelated to reality, I often shy away from people who appear different than me. I might argue such fear is built into our genetics but then I see young kids quickly getting past that to find a new friend to play with. With time I’ve grown to set aside my fears and shyness and to become confident our diverse world is the one I want to share with others.

Thankfully our families have long been a rainbow of people that support me in finding that truth. Some are unlike me on the surface, but of course then we dig down inside and find not only the similarities but the wonderfully cross-pollinating differences. Both my parents were born (1911/1912) and raised in China; the whole time we were growing up in Michigan we had a constant stream of Chinese visitors—it was just the way my parents made people who were away from their homes feel welcomed. On Liz’s side of the family we are truly wealthy with diversity—all shades of brown and black as well as orientation—such an enriching gift allowing us all to be more of who we are.

We mustn’t allow our world to be painted as other than beautifully diverse. Anything else is a simply not true. Please take time to prove to each other that diversity is vital to life by reaching out to someone who might look different or feel left out.

07 Jul This entry was published on July 7, 2024 at 5:05 pm. It’s filed under John Snell, John Snell Photographer, Michigan, Photograph, Reflections, Vermont, www.johnsnell.photography and tagged China, diversity. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.