Diversity
“Sometimes
a concept is baffling not because it is profound but because it is wrong.”
E.
O. Wilson
When I search
through my box of paints, I see multiples of everything—true blue, cobalt blue,
Prussian blue, ultramarine, sea green, sap green, leaf green, viridian,
crimson, maroon, magenta, vermillion, scarlet—and on it goes. If I were to
paint an entire canvas one color only, though it might be a beautiful color, there
would be no depth, no shadow, no discernable image. In the view from my porch,
I see almost every shade of green one can name; also oak, pine, maple, bamboo, privet,
laurel, even a Japanese umbrella tree (though I have no idea how it got here). And
there are numerous vines—Virginia creeper, trumpet, morning glory, wisteria, English
ivy. I didn’t plant any of them, but here they are, prospering on their own.
Nesting in this small space are robins, mockingbirds, towhees, blue jays, brown
thrashers, cardinals, and several types of sparrows.
When we study the natural
world, and especially when we allow that world to be itself, we find that it
thrives when there is diversity. I have a neighbor who happens to make his living
as a landscaper. He plants, as any designer would, for the attractive appearance
of his yard. He has, in the last three years, planted at least ten large trees—all
the same type, and not native—and has watched more than two-thirds of them die
within three months. Without diversity, we and our plants do not thrive.
E. O. Wilson, the world’s
leading expert on ants, who is still teaching and writing at 91, says this, “We
should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use
it and come to understand what it means to humanity.” The living world—even
the smallest creatures, and even the invisible parts, even kudzu (!)—have much
to teach us, not the least of which is that wholeness takes root in diversity—of
colors, plants, animals, insects, and, yes, people. Wholeness and diversity are
synonymous. To think that all human beings should look alike, speak alike, and hold
the same beliefs is one of those baffling concepts that is simply wrong. And to think that one type of human being is superior to another is wrong, too.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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