Cohousing-L Mailing List: A very moving portrayal of the diversity element

[Ty Albright (tmalbright]

Tiffany;

 

Quick side note - visiting New Orleans (great city) and thinking you've been
"to the South" is like visiting San Francisco (another great city) and
thinking you've been to California.

 

If the topic is "diversity" - I believe this has more to do with differences
in thought and behavior - which is largely driven by culture - which is
often a product of your geographic location.  This includes differences from
"Big City Folk" and "Country Folk" (two big generalizations for sure).

 

For me - I desire to have neighbors who are kind, slow to anger,
understanding and accepting of others, encourage others, and willing to help
out others in need.  I don't want to live with people who do not fit this
description, so you can say I do not want diversity - but rather want to be
with people like me.

 

I also question how "divided" we are as a country. I think this may be an
agenda driven myth. There are certainly all types of nut jobs everywhere,
but they are the minority exception.  I believe our 2 party political system
has failed us, and a byproduct of this is the notion that much of our
country views their affiliation with a particular political party in a
similar way they affiliate themselves with their favorite sports team - and
will "rah rah" and support "their team" no matter what - which creates
problems when both major teams are bad.  Americans love to "win" - it's part
of our culture.

 

I think most all Americans want the same thing - freedom, safety,
prosperity, pursuit of happiness etc. - there is just disagreements about
how to achieve these goals - and too much energy in trying to destroy the
opposing team "pushem back, pushem back.. Wayyy back" - rah rah.

 

In my mind the biggest "divide" we have in this country is based on
differences in thought and behavior which is a byproduct of different
"cultures" that result from different geographical locations which separate
the experience of "Big City Folk" and "Country Folk".  I think this is
actually a big and complicated thing to fully understand but I think it has
something to do with peoples connection to nature.

 

Country Folk, in my mind, includes people groups who participate or live or
are exposed to areas with small towns, agriculture, hunting and fishing.
Their daily lives expose them to practical experiences that are more in
harmony with the patterns of nature and the seasons, and their cultural
behaviors are more aligned with practical things that work (not much need
for "high fashion").  The typical center for forming community is focused
around the local school (PTA / parent involvement) and church (which
requires people to "come together" and meet).  So I'm thinking Country Folk
have less "diversity" because they all share similar experiences by virtue
of their geographic location.

 

Big City Folk in general are disconnected from nature and their only thought
about agriculture is when the price of avocados double. City dwellers have
the opportunity to be exposed to a greater variety of thoughts and ideas
because big cities attract people from all geographic locations (the vast
majority of small town graduating high school seniors high tail it to the
big city for opportunity, as do foreign immigrants etc.). So maybe City
Folks have more "diversity" because of the more different experiences
different individuals are likely to have because of the geographic nature of
cities (people from many locations, many cultures).

 

Problems occur when people on one culture views people from a different
culture and judges them to be bad (or ignorant, or backwards, or crazy)
because of their differences (including differences in "diversity").

 

Not sure if this answered your questions or if it's just me rambling .. my 2
cents.

 

Ty

Ty Albright Project Management
Little Red Hen LLC
214-336-7952
 <mailto:tmalbright [at] verizon.net> tmalbright [at] verizon.net
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