Diversity Makes for a Rich Tapestry-Daily Meditation 3.3.23

Today’s quotation:

We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.-Maya Angelou

Today’s Meditation:

I get very frustrated when I hear people trying to convince others that diversity is bad.  It makes me sad to know that many people are so afraid of people and things that are different that they’re not willing to tolerate the differences that are simply how other people are, whether that be due to skin color, religion, culture, heritage, or even the region of a country in which they were born.

The diversity inherent in the human race is a beautiful thing, yet many human beings don’t see it as such because they see anyone different as a threat.  Therefore, they engage in semantic games and judgmental ways of thinking that put other people at an artificially lower level rather than celebrating the differences because we realize that we can learn new and different things from people who have different experiences and perspectives than we have.

I always want to celebrate diversity because living on our planet is crucial.  Diversity gives us a rich view of life and living as long as we keep ourselves open to diverse ways of experiencing the world.  When part of a rich tapestry, we contribute our backgrounds and experiences while allowing others to contribute equally.  If we reject the rich tapestry, we try to contribute everything based on our ideas and beliefs without letting others contribute equally.  And we all lose when that happens.

Our diversity is one of our wealthiest assets, yet it’s one that many people reject outright and that many other people neglect consistently.  We need not only to accept the diversity of this world, simply because it is what it is, but also to celebrate it and contribute to it so thus we can make it more prosperous and beneficial to all.

Questions to consider:

Why do many people feel threatened by diversity?

How can each of us contribute to the diversity of the world?

What kinds of benefits can diversity bring to you and yours?

For further thought:

People need to see that far from being an obstacle, the world’s diversity of languages, religions, and traditions is a great treasure, affording us precious opportunities to recognize ourselves in others.-Youssou N’Dour

If you missed yesterday’s Daily Meditation, it is right here.