Differences.....

Over the past decade or so, through personal and professional decisions (not that I/we are professional at anything, but farming is our profession), I have been introduced and exposed to new ideas and thoughts.  This has been such a lovely experience for me - to meet new people, hear diversity of thought, and to view all aspects of my life through new eyes.  

 

You see, I live in a conservative, monochromatic, small community.  Not that we don't have our share of town kooks and weirdos (I, probably being one of them).  It is a great place to live.  A safe place.  A place I love.  Yet, when anyone attempts to do anything "outside the box", questions arise.  "Why do things differently?", "Isn't the status quo good enough for you?",  "Do you think you are better than the rest of us?", are all things said when new thought or behavior is introduced.  I think this is a natural human reaction, so I am not being disparaging.  I am just acknowledging that a lot of diversity of thought doesn't arise in a community filled with people of the same religious, economic, and cultural backgrounds.  Sometimes new views or thoughts are met with fear, simply out of ignorance.

This became very apparent for me in San Fransisco, while I was there chaperoning a high school band/orchestra trip.  San Fransisco is such the opposite of Preston, Idaho.  Instead of fields of corn, there were rows of houses.  In lieu of snow capped mountains reaching skyward, there were skyscrapers.  There were bridges instead of barns.  All of which fascinated me.

 

I was also fascinated by the talk I overheard on the bus.  I was surrounded by talk of "I would hate to live here", "it is so ugly here", "why would anyone want to live here?".  I, myself, probably wouldn't want to live in San Fransisco, but it does have some things my little town just can't offer.

 

  I am not sure how the kids felt when I tried to change their attitude of fear into one of inquiry.   They might have just wanted the old lady to be quiet.  Regardless, we talked of the music scene there, the diversity of cultures, and how nice the weather was year round.  I tried to point out the nice things about what we were experiencing and hopefully they could see that different doesn't have to be a comparison.  Different doesn't have to mean bad.  It can just mean different.

I really love the picture I posted above.  Why?  Because it symbolizes this whole thought for me.  We all have things we value: things we like and dislike, things we believe and reject, and things that are important to us.  Those things are what defines us as individuals -  it's the rock that is our foundation.   But what I have experienced and what I believe, is that our foundation should never inhibit us from building bridges to others:  other cultures, other religions, other views, and other ways of life.  There is value there.  If not for us, for those living that existence.  To demean their way of life, simply because it is different, without first trying to understand and learn from it, is to demean them as human beings. 

I took this picture while on our tour of Alcatraz.  It is a good reminder to me that out of the most dismal, desolate places, beauty can grow.  That the positive can be found in all kinds of places, if you are willing to look for it.