October 3 – National Diversity Day

nPostednon October 3, 2014 n

(First Friday of October)

nWhatndoes diversity mean?

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nDiversitynmeans variety – or a wide range of differences. A place with a lotnof bio-diversity has many different sorts of plants and animals, andna nation with a lot of diversity has people with heritages from allnover the world…Perhaps people who speak a wide range of languages,neat many different foods, celebrate many different holidays, havenmany different customs, and follow different religions or havendifferent sorts of world views. No matter what their race, gender,nage, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, people are people – and theynare all deserving of tolerance and acceptance.

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Tolerancenof diversity is not necessarily an easy thing. You may think thatnsomeone’s political or religious views are wrong – and in somensituations, it’s okay to tell that person about your disagreement,neven to debate the issues – but you should still be able to getnalong with that person, accept that he or she has a right to holdnthose opinions and beliefs, agree to disagree.

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Somenpeople easily accept diversity, but don’t like the ideas of meren“tolerance.” I mean, can’t we do better than just putting up withnone another? Can’t we actually respect one another’s beliefs,nand celebrate each other’s differences?

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nActually,nnot always. We can say the words “I respect everyone’s world view”n– but then when we see someone believing every foolish thing evernthought up by hucksters and charlatans, we don’t actually FEELnrespect for that person’s gullibility (which means willingness tonbelieve foolish things). We might say that of course we respect everynreligion, but then find ourselves laughing at the belief that thendictator of a Galactic Confederacy brought billions of his people tonEarth in a spaceship, stacked those beings around volcanos, andnkilled them with atom bombs – and, whoops! That story sounds likenfun science fiction, but one of the world’s religions teaches that itnis true!

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nSonI do not think we can necessarily promise to respect and celebratenevery difference. Instead, we should make a commitment to accept andntolerate diversity.

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nBeingnintolerant of intolerance…and hating hatred.

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nAnotherntricky part of tolerance is what to do when people’s beliefs hurtnother people. Obviously, we cannot allow someone to steal beat upnother people, even if he claims that he is doing so because his godncommands him to do so. We surely cannot allow someone to steal fromnothers, even if she claims that, in her world view, there is no suchnthing as ownership, and therefore it’s not stealing. We also cannotnallow people to insult others, shame others, or otherwisenpsychologically harm others, even if they have some sort of “butnit’s my BELIEF!!” excuse.

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nButnit is hard, sometimes, to figure out who’s really hating on who,nbecause people can be sort of sneaky with their insults. I try tonremember, “Criticize the belief, not the believer.” Even ifnsomeone is being racist, try to remember to complain about thenspecific racist behaviors and words, and not to get personal. “Thatnwas an unfair, racist thing to say!” – not “You are a lousynexcuse for a human being!”

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nAlsonon this date:

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