Diversity. We hear about it all the time. It has become the hottest new thing on the market and everyone is eager to show how diverse they are.
Now, don’t get me wrong, diversity is an incredible thing; it is the spice of life. It allows us to learn from each other, to try new things, to be exposed to new ideas and to make new friends. But the true understanding of the value of diversity has been lost and it has become a commodity.
Companies and schools promote their diverse communities as a selling point for the institutions. Applications ask how you will contribute to the diversity of the group and these institutions proudly prattle on about their diverse group.
We need to be aware of the value of diversity and acknowledge it, but we also need to move past the generic concept. While the act of ensuring diversity in an institution invites unique points of view and important contributions, like numerous other factor, it can also be overemphasized.
As with any cultural shift, this frame of mind can be most effectively addressed on an individual level.
Thankfully, most people have accepted, and even embraced, interracial marriages, but we have gone too far when I hear girls squealing, “I want to marry an Asian so we can have mixed babies. Mixed babies are so cute!”
Similarly, when a friend of mine went off to college a couple of years ago, one of the girls in her orientation group whispered conspiratorially to her, “In college, I’m going to date a black guy.” This comment floored my friend, who responded with a sad shake of the head.
In the past, we used our differences as a point of division and ranked ourselves hierarchically. Today, we are still following the same pattern, just in a different way. We have now begun to define ourselves by even narrower degrees of association within race, religion, sexual orientation, heritage, age, marital status and physical or mental ability.
We are more accepting of people with other associations, but we seem to value them according to these generic associations. Visually, we seem more accepting and respectful of others, but we fail to see beyond their “diversity.”
Our diversity contributes to us, but it does not define us.
Though our emphasis on diversity seems to be about accepting others, superficial diversity is really about making ourselves look more cultured. We have shot past the mark of respecting others and have fallen into the trap of appearances once more. If we truly respected others, it would be inherent in our behavior and embracing diversity would be automatic.
To re-establish the equilibrium, we must learn to see through an individual’s exterior to her interior. We need to acknowledge and embrace the various factors that contribute to them, but move past them. Find value in the person in front of you, not in where that person is from or what he looks like.
It is refreshing to see us collectively moving away from the “isms,” but remember that diversity is not a commodity; it is a mindset of openness and acceptance. As the Chinese proverb goes, “We see what is behind our eyes.”
