Celebrate Difference:

It generates the energy of life

On today, May 1, the 42nd day of Spring, I am thinking about differences. In nature, diversity provides texture and interest. AND it provides the energy for change. Difference in levels causes water to flow downhill. Hot air rises as it cools. Winds blow in to fill a vacuum. Increasing presence of light fuels photosynthesis, while decreasing light damps the process. A healthy body works and rests, hearts surge and relax, lungs breathe in healthy air and breathe out poison gases. We wake, and we sleep. We grow new cells, even as the old ones die and are sloughed off. Illness happens when any of these kinds of processes stop or slow down. In nature, life is not possible without difference. Difference is a cause for celebration and hope!

As a kid, I loved anything about life sciences. I got my undergrad degree in biology mostly because I loved learning new ideas about plants and animals and how a human body work. (That same reasoning gave me a double major—biology and English because I also loved words!). Anyway, as an adult I enjoy considering the role some of these ideas about difference play out in human interactions and behaviors.

Consider the importance of difference in your life. The difference between what you want and what you have “fuels” your drive to work harder or to change your path. The difference between past and present fuels nostalgia – or fear. The difference between you and another can be source of interest, love, friendship – or fear, anger, curiosity, etc.

Recently we’ve been told that difference is to be hated, feared, and eliminated. People who look ”different” from those who try to dominate must be sent somewhere else or given no access here. The same is true of those who think differently, pray differently, love differently, vote differently, behave differently, and (even) earn differently.

This aversion to differences is not natural. It’s dangerous for us all because it strips us of our humanity, our opportunity for growth, our need or ability to question and learn. Although it occurs to me that this is the very reason that some people today fight so hard to limit, suppress, and oppress difference. They don’t want us (the general population) to grow or question or learn! And that breaks my heart—and frightens me to my core.

This, for me, poses important questions before us as a nation: Can we, as society, afford to depress, denigrate, and ultimately eliminate difference in this country? Or can we engage across differences to find ways to co-exist, to honor difference, and to celebrate the challenges, growth, and opportunity that comes because we are, each and every single one of us, different from the rest?

Can we explore differences together, with curiosity and respect?

Does this make sense to you, or do you think differently? Join the conversation by commenting below!