‘Cuz it’s getting deep in here! 
“We all come from the same root, but the leaves are all different.”
–John Fire Lame Deer, LAKOTA“We all come from one Great Spirit but we are all different and unique. Nothing in the Great Creation has a twin that is identical. Even children that are twins are different. Every single person is extremely special and unique. Each person has a purpose and reason why they are on the Earth. Just like every leaf on a tree is different, each one is needed to make the tree look like it does. No leaf is better or worse than the other—all leaves are of equal worth and belong on the tree. It is the same with human beings. We each belong here and do things that will affect the great whole.”
I got my youngins school pictures back yesterday and other than the 8X10 missing, they were the best pictures ever taken of him at school. As I was looking at the class picture, I started to reflect on my class at the same age.
Diversity is a huge thing with me. I believe it takes all kinds and colors to make this world tick. Back in the 60′s when I was 13 we had smaller class sizes and even fewer kids of color or race. I was the only redhead in my class and as such, I was singled out often; the one kid who was teased unmercifully. We had very few (1 or 2) African-Americans in my whole school and none in my class. No other races were represented at my school at all. You could easily say we were 99.5% white in my school.
I was not raised to be predjudiced and never have been. I was just never exposed to other races to make distinctions or to develop any kind of other thoughts on the subject until I reached high school level. During those years, I made a point to be friends with everyone and for my efforts I was greeted with smiles and friendships daily to last me through those wonderful years of becoming who I wanted to be. I was nicknamed the “Hippy on horseback” and I loved it.
Don’t get me wrong here. I high school we had seperation of kids or clicks… You had the farm kids who did all the rodeos and rode their horses. I fit right in with them owning a horse and riding in parades. I even went so far as to enter the Miss Rodeo Queen contest. I wasn’t a finalist, but I gave it a shot. I wore my hair long and listened to rock and roll… so the hippy crowd loved me. I dated a biker and as such his crowd loved me too.
I loved to dance and that made me a hit with the blacks in town (dancing was a big thing back then). I was told I could dance quite well… and the boys loved to teach me all the new moves. I played in band and sang in the choir, so that group accepted me as well. Then of all things… I played chess and worked in the library… needless to say the nerds loved to challenge me in chess during their study hours.
This was the extent of seperation in my school at that moment in time: rednecks, bikers, shop boys, blacks, richies and nerds. Nowadays I wish it could be just as simple for our kids, but it’s not and never will be again. Now you have gangs in school. Now you have many races. I tell my youngin to make up his own mind and he does. He shows no hatred of anyone and now I can see why. His class is the reason. He has whites, indians, mexicans, blacks and mixed races. Last names range from Beard to Patel to Gonzales. I am thankful for his diversity now… it will make him a better person for it.
If you’re really listening
If you’re awake to the poignant beauty of the world,
your heart breaks regularly.
In fact, your heart is made to break,
it’s purpose is to burst open again and again
so that it can hold evermore wonder.Andrew Harvey
Indian-born Author, Scholar and Mystic
