People. Human beings. We say of ourselves that we are the dominant species on planet Earth; the top of the food chain. Human civilization is complex and diverse. With all of our languages, religions, colors, and customs I guess its easy to overlook a simple fact, which is
There is only one race: The human race.
I hear a lot of talk about ‘tolerance’ and I say that’s a complete cop-out. To tolerate something implies separation. You tolerate that which is alien and apart from yourself. You body tolerates medication. Your body distinguishes the chemistry of the drug as separate from its own. I believe we are capable of more than tolerance.
We can not only accept that others are different from ourselves, we can embrace and celebrate that dis-similarity. One of my fondest wishes in life was see as much of this planet as possible. There are so many wondrous things to see, hear, and smell. I guess with the sorry ass state of the world that will never happen.
Anyway, I say this to you today. It is not enough to tolerate those who are different from yourself. You must embrace those differences as vital to the over all human condition. Homogeneous cultures only work as long as the gene pool from which they spring remains diverse. How do you think we meet that need for genetic diversity? Here’s a clue: don’t have babies with your brothers and sisters. That’s right … we need to include as much difference as possible to survive as a species.
nice. good post. sounds like the stuff i used to write about in my old band ‘diversity without an issue’. you may not have liked our music but you would have enjoyed the lyrics, haha. see you at work in an hour.