Guest Author - Pam Garlick

I admit I grew up in an all white Protestant neighborhood, so as a child I didn’t have much contact with anyone who looked different from me, or had different beliefs than those I was growing up with. I like to think, had I been raised in a diverse neighborhood, I’d have been a friend to all.

However, I won’t know that. I just know that by the time I grew older and was faced with my first exposure to people of other ethnic and cultural roots, I proved myself seriously lacking in openness and friendship. By that time I was in a clique of teens who looked alike, dressed alike and thought alike – and not always in very positive ways.

I regret those days in many ways. I missed many opportunities to be the person I would have liked to be. To be honest, I’m still working on being that person.

Today I live in a very diverse community. And I find my main contact is still with people who are similar to me. I’m not talking about color or religion, though it is sometimes the case. Rather I’m talking about people who share the same experiences and values systems.

I think this is part of human nature. People are closest to those who share similarities in their life experiences, such as marriage, children, grief or even hobbies. As for value systems, I mean similar views on work, helping others and faith.

So, why am I writing about myself and my views? Because I have a platform here to do that. And although I consider most my writing to be objective, sometimes that is difficult to do.

Hatred is alive in well throughout the world. It seems there is no ethnic or cultural divide when it comes to hatred. There is enough of it to go around. Symbols of hatred have been around as long as there have been humans, but because of today’s media we are no longer sheltered from it. It comes right into our homes. Sure, we can refuse to read or watch the news, but I don’t think that is the way to handle it.

I do not believe marching and protesting are necessarily the way either, though I do not condemn anyone for doing that as long as it is done peacefully. I just do not believe anything is really accomplished by force.

I believe there are still many people, like myself, who do not have hearts that are filled with hatred. What we lack is understanding, and that only comes with exposure and time.

Perhaps we all need to step out of our “cliques”, our comfort zones and get to know people who do not share many similarities with us; but perhaps, we’d find we do share a few if we take the time to find out. That is a starting point to building a better more diverse circle of friends, a better community, and maybe even a better world.


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