Diversity and culture have never been a major interest of mine even though I'm African American. I've been very blessed to grow up in a strong Christian community where race has never really been an issue. I've grown up in a predominantly white community and was the only African American in my class my whole life (graduating class- 6 people). I received my first diversity/culture overflow once I got to GMU where I have been constantly bombarded with culturally diverse organizations, practices, and courses. Although I have not participated in too many of them, I've been exposed to a good dose of the importance of diversity in culture for leadership. Now that I have started reading this Salsa, Soul, and Spirit book, I'm really excited about what I'm going to learn through it this semester.
Below are a few one-liners that made an impression during this week's reading:
-"When people respect each other and value differences, they can work together more amicably which results in greater productivity." What I really enjoyed about this section of the book was the principle of an overall respect for humanity as such a necessity for a strong community. There is a Bible verse that states "a house divided against itself cannot stand" and the statement above is saying the same thing- we can't as people, especially Americans, except to be strong or successful at anything if we are fighting amongst ourselves and excluding each other based on gender, race, or cultural differences. Without a general respect for each other, there is no way we can expect to be victorious.
-"Just as no jalapenos are the same, each individual is a unique, one-of-a-kind design." I love the truth to this statement! It is seen so clearly at GMU with all the diversity represented on campus- even people with identical characteristics (gender, race, etc.) are different in personality and the combination of all the different genders, races, cultures, and personalities make for an exciting variety. God created everyone different for a reason and it provides for an amazing check and balance system if we use it to its potential.
-"Values...shape our assumptions about the future, provide the context within which issues and goals are identified, and set standards for people's behavior and actions." - Burt Nanus
Personal values is something that is very important to me. I don't think people truly believe that their values have such a strong impact on their lives in every single area. In my opinion, values are truths that we each believe and build our lives upon. Two people can have the same basic value but believe it in a different way- some people have the basic value of respecting humanity and treating everyone well with no base of religion, whereas although I have the same value, for me it is rooted in faith in Jesus Christ and that the Bible says to love others the way Jesus has loved me. Whether we recognize it or not, we live according to our values- that is why it's so important to establish the right ones as soon as possible.
"Unless they have experienced this contagious generosity, people from individualistic cultures may find it difficult to understand or to aspire to this level of sharing." Sadly, I believe this is pretty apparent in our nation. It is amazing to see how many people are completely oblivious to the aspect of sharing and truly caring for others because they were raised to care only about themselves. Of course we are trained well enough to not outright say that we only care about ourselves, but we take the survival of the fittest concept as being "every man for themselves and if MAYBE I'll help you out if I have all that I want and need".
"Being generous also means showing a genuine caring and concern for people's needs, listening, and giving of one's time." I really like this statement because I've always believed that you SHOW how you feel towards people. It is easy to give money or possessions to people, but to give someone your time- the most valuable position you have that you can't get back once it is gone- shows how important they are to you.
The whole portion of the book on giving to others was really interesting to me. I never knew/realized how much of the things that I do are grounded in the African American culture. It makes me even more proud to be African American and know the strength of my values. I also really liked how they went through the background of "what doesn't kill you only makes you strong" and the relevance that it had to African Americans and slavery. I, like many Americans, use that statement so loosely today in regard to dealing with "hardships" like relationships, tests, job dissatisfaction- whereas years ago the statement literally meant that if you survived, you would be stronger for it! Being raised in a Christian community, I've been raised in many of these principles since birth and it's really awesome to see that it is part of my culture for the same reason.
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