Wouldn’t it be great if difference was seen to be something interesting, attractive, even beautiful?
If we could not just respect and tolerate difference, but encourage it and celebrate it?
Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t try to make everyone the same?
Lovely photo and text! There is a challege though : as humans we tend to search for people who are more or less the same as we are, since we are social animals looking for familiar people to belong somewhere! I try to respect that, since trying to change external factors is impossible and internal changes might make me a better man 🙂 The message however is hopeful and besutifuk: let’s respect each other the way we are!
Have a great day!
Tieme
Ah, yes, Tieme, we really do search for similarities, for qualities or values we might share, because, yes we like to make bonds, to create relationships. But from my experience as a doctor I often find myself thinking of the body as a metaphor, and in the body the different organs work best when they work according to their uniqueness BUT in mutually beneficial relationships with other different organs. That’s one way to think about “integration”.
Integration isn’t about same-ness, it’s about the “mutually beneficial bonds between highly differentiated parts”.
And I think that’s what I had to do with every patient. Find their uniqueness. Respect their difference, and help support greater integration within them and between them and the others in their world.
I’m a champion of difference partly because I don’t like to reduce patients to “another case of X”. (Partly because I don’t like to be pigeon-holed myself!)
But I’m a champion of finding commonalities which can connect us too!
Thanks for taking the time to comment, and for your kindness.
You have a great day, too!
Bob
Dear Bob,
That is quite a reply, thank you 🙂
I agree, if our body doesn’t react well on something (like bad food), we should throw it out and not try to keep it in for “integration’s” sake.
I completely agree with your arguments, and was merely adding some nuance, or trying to look for another point of view if you will. Since so many people seem to reject the idea of “being part of a group” and are striving to be “unique”, and in those cases I wonder “why not just accept that we aren’t that unique and that special after all?”, and even worse: their little battles to be unique is really just an act to try to belong 😉
Thank you for replying, have a great Wednesday!
Kind regards,
Tieme
Btw: “besutifuk” in my previous comment is “beautiful”, I guess I was tired 😉
Diversity should be celebrated. To be unique is to stand tall and remain internal with our own personal perceptions. To embrace this in ourselves and others is to be true 🙂
I say this most days! And I am in the luxury position that I am a trainer… so I have audiences who I invite to celebrate difference and think about changing their perspectives… keep spreading the word, as I will… ps love your posts! 🙂
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