The way most of us who do seminars on diversity approach the subject is from the point of view that people are people, regardless of the differences in their backgrounds, and that we all must at least give consideration to those facts so that we can treat each other fairly in this world.
Though that’s still very legitimate, I’ve been thinking lately that maybe the wording is somewhat negative. After all, if you begin by looking at “differences”, you’re already establishing that the differences are significant enough to have to address. I’ve started wondering if it might not be more appropriate to look at similarities than differences.
The problem, which is intriguing, is that, when you start trying to find similarities the task becomes overwhelming. Indeed, there really are more similarities between people than differences. We all want to live life to the fullest; we all care greatly about our families; we all want to have enough money in our lives to live well; we all have dreams and goals and aspirations; we all want love,… on and on. Not that all of us have these things, but we all crave the same thing. We all have skin, we all have the same color of blood, we all have two eyes and a nose,… on and on. Sure, not all work the same or look the same, or are even the same type, but we have them.
What a daunting task! And yet, at the same time, it’s more inspiring to do that than, in some cases, going out of our way to find the differences in each other. I believe we all need to think about this one further.
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August 15th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
I agree with you that there are more strengths in our similarities than there are differences, but many individuals have been trained to look in the opposite direction first.
I’m sure audiences appreciate your seminars because you elevate these strengths. That’s very different than the traditional theme of diversity topics.
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August 18th, 2006 at 10:30 am
Amen. If every one in this wonderful world recognise and respect this fact then all countries can live in peace and harmony. I enjoy the blogs. Keep it going.
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August 24th, 2006 at 11:44 am
Hi Shirley, and thanks for the comment. I try to give something different, but I’ve also noticed that if someone isn’t interested, then they believe it’s all the same. But in this case, I’ll take the majority opinion rather than trying to change everyone.
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August 24th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
Thanks for the comment, Danny. I’m going to keep plugging along until I’m famous, if not infamous.
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