Day 214 – December 6, 2011
“Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common. Celebrate it every day.”
~Unknown Author
It is the holiday season and everyone I know has something they love about this season. I'm no different. I like the decorations and the television holiday specials like; It's a Wonderful life with James Stewart and A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott, but the thing I like the most is the music. My favorite holiday song is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Many of us have sung this song at one time or another in our life, but do we ever “listen” to the words and understand their meaning? When I was a child, I would sing the songs and never really pay attention to the meaning. I knew the words of the song, but never what the song was saying. It wasn't until I was an adult that it hit me like a lightening bolt. I was in the military and a co-worker said to me after we finished singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (badly, both out of tune and maybe a little tone deaf), “do you know what that song means?” My response was, “its a song, it has no meaning, you sing it and then your done.” Being young, inexperienced and naïve I thought I had that answer down pat. Boy, was I wrong. My co-worker, who was from another country, told me the song was about acceptance, or in Rudolph's case, not being accepted because he was different. I must tell you, this was my very first lesson in human diversity and I was ashamed that I fell into the category of being blithely unaware.
You see, I grew up in a racially mixed and culturally diverse neighborhood. My friends had parents that came from all walks of life and their surnames read like a map of the world. So, I never gave a second thought to how most people view others, who may be of different race or religion. To me they were always just people. I was more interested in if they behaved in a civilized manner, than where their ancestors may have called home. This, like all human action, was/is both good and bad. First, to so many ancestral culture is a source of deep pride and identity. To ignore that is to miss out on the fundamental essence of the person(s) humanity, their unique gifts and the necessity of diverse points of view and that's not really fair. But on the good side, seeing everyone as equal from the start levels the playing field and provides a baseline of behaviors for peaceful co-existence.
The late Martin Luther King Junior said in his landmark speech, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."” The speech in its entirety is an oratorial masterpiece in my opinion and its point is clear. We all need to adjust our viewpoints to be inclusive, not exclusive. We all need to be open to change and the benefits of a free and open society. More importantly, we all need to rise and live up to the promise of freedom and justice, that those brave souls in our military still fight for today. It is good to remember that we are in fact all descendents of immigrants. This holds true for every corner of the country and quite honestly the entire globe. Our not too distant ancestry is common (biologically speaking) and all of humanity has emigrated to where we find ourselves now.
I think it's disconcerting and eerily ironic that in the case of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, “poor Rudolf” was excluded from everything until there was a dire need and he the only solution. Well shame on those ignorant reindeer and even to Santa for fostering an atmosphere of exclusion (at least in the song)... I still deeply believe in the Spirit of Christmas. We have real issues in this nation and in the world; it is a shame that we are letting our petty differences, especially where we may have come from, interfere with the common and urgent needs of humanity. You never know when the next urgent need will arise in your life, who the next “Rudolph” might be, or where he or she may come from. Or, will we like Ebeneezer Scrooge (played by George C. Scott) uttered in the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, “What have I done... to be abandoned like this?” It's better to play nice! Did we not learn anything in kindergarten?
Melissa Etheridge said, “I feel my heart break to see a nation ripped apart by it's own greatest strength---it's diversity.” Something to think about.
How will you view differences today?
Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote
Thank you for reading
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