"Good morning.
I would like to have some help today with my word of the day. Some of my friends are going to come up here to give you a visual. Okay what do you see? Okay, now based on what you see, what is the word of the day?
http://todaysseniorsnetwork.com/Diversity
Diversity? Maybe UNITY? How about BELONGING? Well I haven't decided yet, so we will just see.
We have spent a portion of time earlier this year thinking about and talking about diversity, but today I want you to think about things a bit differently. Because what I see up here are many more similarities than differences.
If some alien came down to earth and looked at this group of humans do you think they would see the similarities or the differences. If you picked up any two starfish from the sea would you notice that one had longer arms or one was darker in color… or would you just see two starfish?
http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/photos/cape_cod/pages/starfish.htm
Everyone up here has two legs, two arms, eyes, noses and mouths are in the relatively same pattern. No one has an arm growing out of their forehead. Everyone up here has physiological systems that work with the same chemical reactions. Everyone up here will laugh at things that are funny, and cry when things are sad.
Yet we see differences. I suggest that the differences we see are fairly superficial.
We need some perspective - last week we heard a very enlightening talk from Mr. Kondysar and one of the points he made was about how when we look at things from a different perspective it can really change how we see ourselves.
Let's think about looking at these guys from a different perspective. What if we looked at this collection of people from the top floor of the Empire State building? Or from an airplane? Would we notice the differences or the similarities? In other words the farther we get away the more similar they might seem.
Donald Williams (astronaut):
"For those who have seen the Earth from space, and for the hundreds and perhaps thousands more who will, the experience most certainly changes your perspective. The things that we share in our world are far more valuable than those which divide us."
http://chamorrobible.org/gpw/gpw-20051129.html
Thank you guys, you can sit down now.
I have been thinking a lot lately about this, and wondering why we are so focused on what makes us different, when in reality we are very much alike. I understand that it is important to recognize and try to understand differences, to learn about and respect our differences, but I want to put those differences into perspective.
I don't care if you are black, white or brown,
Christian, non-Christian, or agnostic,
athletic, artistic or intelligent,
wealthy, poor or middle of the road,
gay, straight, or not yet sure,
tall or short or.... balding.
We are all much more alike than we are different.
Let's look at things from another different perspective. Instead of looking at humans from far away, let's look closely. Real close. Let’s look at our DNA, our genetic blue print.
Earlier in the school year a group of Parish students and teachers went down to a lecture at SMU on a Sunday evening. The lecture was asking the question "are humans still evolving?" the speaker, Dr. Moyzis, is one of the lead investigators on the Human Genome Project. The study where they set out to map the entire human genome. Meaning that they wanted to learn every type and location of every gene humans carry on their 23 pairs of chromosomes. You know genes - those discrete units of hereditary material that make us unique. That make us diverse. I won't go into too much detail, but they have discovered some very interesting things. You have a code of around 3 billion pairs of nucleotides that spell out who you are. 3 Billion pieces of information. They influence everything from the color of your eyes, to how you metabolize milk, to your predisposition for certain illnesses or disorders, to certain of your personality traits.
http://www.life.illinois.edu/ib/494/images/genome.jpg
However; did you know, that if you picked any two people in this room and analyzed their DNA they would be, about 99.6% the same? The average difference between any two people, genetically, is only four tenths of one percent (.04%). Think about how much some people focus on that four tenths of one percent. If those 3 billion pieces of information combine to compose 25,000 distinct genes you only have 100 that are different.
In the face of 24900 of genetic commonalities, is skin color important? Is sexual orientation important? Are the other relatively few differences that important? Compared to that we have alike?
Now genes alone do not make a person who they are, certainly our environment and experience will influence how we develop. But these genes give us the potential and framework. I just wanted to make a point how similar we are from that perspective. When we look real close we are the same.
What else makes us different?
It is our life experience, our family history, our religion, our culture and everything else that we have learned and been exposed to.
But again I want to focus on how much we are not all that different. I want to think about the human condition. Think about the commonalities. Think about what it means to be human.
I tell my classes all the time that humans are social creatures. That it has been hard wired in our brains and in our genes from tens of thousands of years of evolution; to want to be with other people, to BELONG; to a family, a group, a tribe, a club. It makes sense to be social. From an evolutionary fitness standpoint it represents safety. Being social aids in our survival. We have a need to belong that motivates our behavior. This need to belong motivates us to behave in the core ways in which we are human.
There is a great deal of universality in human behavior. What I mean is that if you go from culture to culture, country to country you will see similarities in human behavior, emotion, and motivation. Humans cry when they are sad, smile when they are happy, we laugh when things are funny, they get embarrassed, they seek out relationships, they enjoy challenges.... It is not just one group of people who do this. Humans do this. You could find the most remote isolated people on the planet and they would exhibit the same characteristics. And people are compassionate, and people can be cruel. But all people seek to be part of a group. It’s part of the human condition. We are not all that different.
http://www.ucc.ie/en/hr/equality-wellbeing/health/mental/religion/
Is your faith an important difference? I want you to think about different faiths. While they may have different interpretations, different stories, different traditions and rituals, when you boil them down aren't they the same or at least similar? Don't they speak to living a virtuous life, to treating people well, to the common good, to thankfulness or redemption, and faith is important to people, religion is very important to some people, but people who aren't religious can still feel strongly about living a virtuous life and value the same tenets.
When we look at history or at different cultures across time we see themes that repeat. Stories of struggle and stories of successes that mold our experiences. Sure these struggles may look different form time to time, but they are struggles. And while your life history may be different and you may think you are different, you are not so different.
You struggle, you fail, you struggle, you succeed, you move on. Just like everyone else. I am not trying to say we aren't unique. I am not trying to discount or be dismissive of anyone’s struggle. I'm not saying some don't have it harder than others, but I am saying we are connected by a commonality of being human.
So I have argued that we all not so different. That we are more similar than dissimilar. Now I want to talk about why it important that we aren’t identical.
One of the core themes we study in biology is the idea of unity and diversity; and how they can exist at the same time; how things can be at the same time related but slightly different. And what we find is; that while the unifying mechanisms and structures do connect us, it is the differences that make us strong. Difference is essential.
Diversity is good. In a biological context diversity is essential to the success of any species. If everyone is exactly the same and the environmental conditions changes such that we are having a hard time surviving, we as a species would be in trouble. Our very existence would be in jeopardy. It is the fact they we have differences that makes survival possible. Difference makes us stronger.
My job as a coach is to build unity. To get every player to be on the same page and bought into a common goal. However if every player on my team had the same abilities we would not be a balanced team. I have players with different abilities and different responsibilities and in order for the whole team to be successful each player needs to be good at what they are, to do their job, to fill their role.
It is in diversity of talents that we are strong and in unity of purpose that we succeed. Isn't that like our school, isn't that like our larger community?
http://www.city-data.com/forum/members/pastorbill-390395-albums-pueblo-family-church-growing-faith-family-service-pic18394-unity.html
We are not that different from each other, we all have hopes and dreams, cares and concerns, we have come together in the Parish community under the tenets of Wisdom, Honor, and Service, we have all agreed to help develop a learning community that upholds the ideals of the honor code. We have found a place to BELONG and a place where our Diversity can serve a UNITY.
There where two things that were the catalyst for my thinking about this homily.
I was reading a Poem by an Irish Poet named David Whyte title “The House of Belonging” and I keep hearing people talking about fitting in.
You always hear people talk about, "you need to find a school that's the right fit for you" or " you can fit in here at Parish."
Now I am going to ask a question, don't raise your hand, just think it in your head.
How many of you think you fit in?
I don't like that idea and I'll tell you why after I ask another question.
Ok, How many of you think you belong here?
I don’t want you to FIT IN. I want you to feel you BELONG.
Because as you saw earlier there is no one shape, size, color, or ability to "fit" in here at Parish. But everyone of those students BELONGS here.
Bricks fit together. They are all the same, they are made from a mold. To fit in you must fit the mold.
Jimmy Carter speaking about America said,
“We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”
I like the metaphor of the Mosaic. Think for a moment about a mosaic. Do you know what a Mosaic is - a type of art where you take a bunch of broken tiles then use them to make a picture or design. Each tile is uniquely shaped and you may have all different colors. You put them together and they don't fit perfectly, and if you look closely you see the differences, you see where it doesn't fit, you see the ragged edges, but when you step back you see the whole, and you see the beauty that comes from differences. Each piece doesn't fit, it belongs. Are you seeing Parish yet?
Parish is a " House of Belonging" a place where you don't have to fit in to belong. A mosaic, where on one hand we are all alike - we are all tiles, but our differences make the whole. You don't have to squeeze yourself into a mold of being a certain way, of having any narrowly defined talents. A place where, when we step back and see the whole, the diversity creates a really nice picture.
the last line of David Whyte's poem reads,
There is no house
like the house of belonging.
like the house of belonging.
Thank you for your time this morning.
