Third Grade Diversity: A Lesson in Adult Behavior

"Diversity: the art of thinking independently together."  

--Malcolm Forbes

The most amazing strength of the United States of America is the diversity of our people. This became so evident to me the other evening as I attended my granddaughter's third grade Christmas program. The children in the program presented the audience one beautiful pose after another within the frame of the grade school stage, each scene representing diverse, distinct children working together in loving harmony.

This fact struck me like a bolt straight out of the azure lid: with caring direction and sincere, mutual cooperation, these children, numbering well over one hundred, presented a delightful work of art, an honest treasure of united spirits. With their voices, their movements, and the smiles on their sweet faces, these kids accomplished the common goal of presenting a memorable performance. And, to boot, they did it with love.

Why should these wonderful, uncommon kids soon face the cold reality of a world so judgmental and so quick to condemn all instances of nonconformity? Damn, I railed at that idea as I realized the challenges each of them would eventually face as they left the loving care provided by their school and by their classmates.

Soon, colors like white, black, brown, and yellow would become a part of their assumed identity. Soon, something known as sexual preference would enter their lives. Soon, economic differences like poverty and affluence would descend up them. Soon, differing societal expectations would force them to make decisions about cliques and friends and "who is bad or good."

I sat there and thought about it. Couldn't togetherness last forever? Why couldn't people -- ages nine to ninety-nine -- just continue to reap the love and acceptance I had just witnessed at grade school?

And, guess what? I don't really know why we adore the vast diversity of our friends as youngsters only to draw dividing lines and choose sides as wildly discerning, subjective adults. America finds its bound strength in diversity, and it continues to thrive when people from every background work together. Perhaps, we need to act more like third graders in a Christmas play.

From its conception, America has been considered the world's melting pot, a mixture of every type of culture and person. No group, no matter how long established, can rightfully call itself more “American” than another. And, the strong fusion of cultures here is so unique and so exceptional that citizens can be just as proud of their original cultural heritage as they are to be Americans. We are our best when we respect all with guarantees of freedom, equality, and liberty ... and diversity.

Freedom, respect, equality -- these are not just symbolic words in the United States. Instead, they represent our vital responsibilities to all of our "classmates," who are our American citizens for life.
America, itself, must act as a stage where intensely different cultures not only coexist peacefully, but also thrive symbiotically and create an undivided nation. 

European, African, Asian, Latin American, Native American, and Middle Eastern -- all cultures form important fabrics in the quilt of the United States of America. Why should adults dispute this and quarrel among themselves about who should possess the bounties of this nation?

Over the next 40 years we must be more open to immigration. Even more than most of our chief global rivals, the United States will be reshaped and re-energized by an increasing racial and ethnic diversity

These demographic changes will affect America's relations with the rest of the world. The United States likely will remain militarily pre-eminent, but the future United States will function as a unique "multiracial" superpower with deep familial and cultural ties to the rest of the world.

Between 2000 and 2050, the vast majority of America's net population growth will continue to come from racial minorities, particularly Asians and Hispanics, as well as a growing mixed-race population.

In 2010, Joel Kotkin, executive editor of NewGeography.com, said ...

"By the middle of the 21st century, America will have no clear 'majority' race. Today 30 percent of the U.S. population is nonwhite; in 2050 it may be nearly 50 percent. Latino and Asian populations are expected to triple. Today, because of high Latino birthrates, one in five American children under the age of 5 is Hispanic; increasingly most Hispanic growth will come from the children of those born in America."

(Joel Kotkin. "America in 2050 -- Strength in Diversity." NewGeography.com. March 16, 2010)

And, it is perfectly clear that during this holiday season, it is incumbent on all of us to extend love, like the love of the children I saw perform onstage, to everyone seeking freedom. We have the right to protest wrongdoings and inconsistencies; however, we must realize we still represent the cradle of liberty and equality to the rest of the world.

When we deny the dreamers entry to this country or when we deny equal rights to anyone because we judge this nation to be more "ours" than "theirs," we squeeze life out of diversity, the muscle of our great nation. In other words, we kill what makes us strong.

Understanding diversity is basic to humans, and we can successfully maintain this love if we, as a species, encourage diverse acceptance from childhood to the grave. No alternative exists.

"When consciousness begins to add diversity to its intensity, its value is no longer absolute and inexpressible. The felt variations in its tone are attached to the observed movement of its objects; in these objects its values are embedded. A world loaded with dramatic values may thus arise in imagination; terrible and delightful presences may chase one another across the void; life will be a kind of music made by all the senses together. Many animals probably have this kind of experience."

--George Santayana

U R U Nique

"I am not like anyone else."

I believe and live by these words.

I believe God intends each of us to find purpose and to weave our unique threads into the fabric of humanity. As evidenced in our exclusive fingerprints, we are designed as a singular identity. Yet, our very existence is dependent upon other individuals who provide us sustenance and who nurture our independence. We all are essential pieces of a larger tapestry, and God has given us the free will to devote our particular assets to complete needed temporal works.

I think an adult who waits on an outside stimulus to effect change is stagnant. A human need only look within to find a spark of the purpose for his or her creation. The discovery of self allows us to become "a particular life" with a purposeful existence. In other words, to me, a person's diversity is a gift meant to become a means of strengthening social ties. Having bestowed a "piece of heaven" to every heart, the Maker expects every person to find, interpret, and spread this love to the best of his or her ability.


Many people resist the call. They live their lives believing that a purpose for their life will be clearly ordained by a heavenly source. Their "calling" is stalled or delayed by their own trusting faith and belief in providence. They believe they have to do nothing other than trust in God and good to live productively. Instead, I believe God intends these people to search "from the inside" and transfer their positive energy and action to the community to help insure the essential earthly delivery of the common good.

Many other individuals see their contributions to society to be unnecessary and unrelated to their intended purpose. As these people personally prosper or suffer, they see their lot as righteous earnings or circumstances of fate. They hoard the trappings of their lives in heaping accumulations of fortune or misfortune, and they believer the, themselves, are the engines of their own existence. Instead of discovering and nurturing their attributes to rise above their own greed or pity, they become faithless and introverted.

I have seen people who develop a love of money as a purpose for their lives. They actually believe their greatest gifts are acquisition, power and grandeur. They proudly store and carefully distribute their monetary assets within family bounds except for occasional shows of public generosity given as selfish tax write offs or as indications of their powerful political concerns. Their pride eventually leads to a "love" of money and the desire for all that it can do to make their lives pleasurable.


And, I have seen the exceedingly poor in their stubborn exaltation of "living on the dole" resist many efforts that could better their own independent existence, preferring instead to rant about inequality and poverty as if living in crippling conditions is a proud birthright. These people live their entire lives in a state of obligation to a society kind enough to provide the basics for human existence. Where is their interest in self discovery and their dogged determination to develop unique assets to assist others? They often feel powerless, so they develop weak wills and prejudices against those who have more than they do.

To be fair, I am not condemning the rich or the poor. Instead, I am purposely confronting anyone who has not looked to his or her soul to discover their spin on the planet is not a "free ride." I don't encourage people to attempt to change an individual because I believe the stimulus for action is within a person's own understandings and the key to unlocking the "ticket" that pays for existence lies in the acceptance and application of his or her own individuality.

We must use tolerance to cement our differences and strengthen our respect so that we may explore all possible solutions and, together, find new answers that represent the will to achieve the common good. It is our very difference that serves to unite us to make the work lasting and beautiful -- in the completion of such undertakings, we each see a reflection of ourselves, not standing alone, but standing together in harmony, a reflection from a wonderful construction created through individual gifts bonded by dependency.

We all learn valuable lessons of diversity as we share "building" experiences with each other. Lasting changes are products of cooperation and compromise. The people who effect these changes come from all walks and all backgrounds of life. They have found a voice they know as true, and they have become convinced that their opinions are necessary parts of the blueprints for a solid plan.

I believe too often we proceed with tunnel vision and belittle or ignore, for our own selfish reasons, the smaller voices of truth. Leaders decide that forcing a change is much more efficient than working through compromise, so they resist diverse planning and shrink back into old, accepted patterns of behavior that provide a temporary band aid.

As leaders become convinced they can control the minds of others by force, they can quickly find efforts to funnel humanity through a narrow channel of understanding into a sea of acceptance are fruitless. Forcing a change nearly always produces strong resistance. Bottlenecks develop as individuals discover personal, seemingly valid reasons to resist. And, isn't this just human nature? Force denies importance of self and stifles positive diversity.

If, however, humans are free to become active participants in decision making and are allowed to discover some personal benefit in change, they justify the movement as being "good for them." They willingly accept the possible benefits of the proposition. How many more of these same individuals then put their unique talents into effecting the new course?
I am not like anyone else, nor do I wish to be like anyone else. It is true that I am unique in the world, and this fact can cause me to have feelings of insecurity and loneliness. However, to understand the reason that I continue to breathe good air, I feel the need to develop and share any God-given talents I possess.

I think all humans are alone/together. We desperately need each other, and the only way we can fit all the untold pieces together is to spread love. I feel every human is capable of feeling and giving love. As I better understand how to add my little piece to the puzzle, I know others must fill in missing portions to make a complete, magnificent accomplishment -- a true work of love.

"When we allow ourselves to exist truly and fully,

we sting the world with our vision

and challenge it with our own ways of being." 

- Thomas Moore