di·ver·si·ty/dəˈvərsədē,dīˈvərsədē/noun
The state of being diverse; variety.”there was considerable diversity in the style of the reports”
The practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc.”equality and diversity should be supported for their own sake”.
I am Acadian French. Growing up, I don’t feel as though I experienced much cultural diversity. I came from a predominately Acadian French, Catholic community in northern Maine. When I moved west to Washington in my early 20’s, I began to experience more diversity. The communities here have a very large agricultural component. Because of this, there is also a very large Mexican population that provides the labor. We have vastly diverse religious backgrounds here as well.
I am a woman. Being female in a leadership position can have it’s challenges. While I don’t feel that my gender has limited my opportunities, it’s hard to know what I don’t know.
I am gay. It was commonplace to hide one’s identity when I was young. It was so commonplace that somehow it didn’t feel like discrimination, it felt like survival. Now people are open and transparent about their identity. So much has changed, rapidly, It’s hard to keep up with the acronyms used to describe me. In so many ways, that constant defining and naming feels more like discrimination than hiding did.
Working in the cancer center setting I encounter a variety of patients. I think the biggest challenge that I encounter is the language barriers that sometimes coincide with working with individuals of different ethnicities and races. It makes it challenging to get to know the patients and relate to their stories and experiences when a language barrier exists. Regardless of the color of their skin, religious background, ethnicity, or gender when we have a new patient at our cancer center, they are simply that, our patient. I do my best to treat all my patients with the same respect, care, and concern. It doesn’t usually occur to me that one patient is different from the next, though I realize they all have different life stories and experiences.
Just as every wildlife species that comes to me for rehabilitation is different, (hawks, owls, falcons, racoons) each is equally beautiful. How beautiful would this world be if we looked at people in the same way? The greater the diversity, the greater the perfection. Strength lies in differences, not in similarities. Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.
Don’t ever forget that you’re a citizen of this world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit, things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day. Civility, respect, kindness, character.
Aaron Sorkin
