What are you growing?

Whatever you give energy to grows. That's not a metaphor. It's a law. And once you see it, you can't unsee it.

Are we growing “inclusive”?  The word "inclusive" is everywhere right now, and honestly, it pulls at something real in us. We want to belong. We want to take care of our fellow human. That longing is beautiful and it's wired into us.

But what if the very word being used to unite us is actually dividing us?

Martin Luther King dreamed of a world where we judge one other by character. Not skin colour. Not group membership. Character. Honesty, integrity, service, freedom, respect. The things that make a human being worth knowing.

And yet we keep giving energy to labels. To categories that go beyond just race and colour.

A flag that says "everyone welcome" while visually signalling special consideration for one group. A month dedicated to one history while everything else gets filed under "general." This isn’t suggesting for a minute that anyone celebrated on a day in our calendar doesn’t deserve recognition. It’s about where we are pointing our energy and why. 

What if we questioned every time we are asked to accept or reject someone because of their language, nationality, sexual orientation, or any other category simply because of their identity? 

Aha! ~ Inclusivity does not need to identify who is included.

The most inclusive act is to open the door and allow someone to reveal their character.

There's a Catholic church on my walking route. Sometimes I push a little hard on those walks, and all that water I drink comes calling. So I knock. They open the door. No questions, no membership card, no explanation required. Just a human being at the door and a community that opens it.

At Christmas I drop off an anonymous gift card for their bazaar. They don't know it's from me. That's the point. We didn't sort each other by congregation or belief. We simply let each other's character do the talking.

Yes, open the door. Let people walk through it and show you who they are. Every group, every background, every walk of life contains extraordinary humans and amidst them, are also ones who don’t deserve your friendship and community.

You decide.

My local community calendar is populated with events dedicated to special interest group.  While I love the diversity and learning about other cultures, I question he motive behind it. We’ll talk more in Human at 5:00 pm EDT Wednesday.