Diversity

"Open your heart and speak. Open your eyes and see. At the moment that you look with your eyes wide open, everywhere you will find differences, an infinite variety." Swami Prajnanpad

My favorite show went out with a bang last night. The ending was definitely an "I didn't see that coming" moment. After setting up the politician Nathan as a win at any cost, me first, sort of person he actually showed love and compassion at the end towards the baby brother who loved him. It was quite touching. Of course being Heroes the show ended up starting a whole bunch of new questions that we can argue and debate about on the web until the show starts up again. At least NBC is going to give us a filler until the new shows start. I sure hope Origins can live up to the standards that Heroes has set.

There is certainly a lot of diversity in the world. In my own house while I was watching Heroes my brother was watching 24. I had to remind him not to call his daughter during Heroes since she would have let the phone go to the answering machine just like I would.

I think it is the things that make us different that makes the world so fascinating. If everybody were the same how boring this world would be. One of my favorite stories is by the late Kurt Vonnegut called Welcome to the Monkey House. In the story everyone by law had to be the same as everyone else. If you had a certain talent it had to be suppressed so that you showed no more talent then anyone else. An episode of one of my favorite television shows The Prisoner touched on that theme in the episode The General where everyone was fed information on certain subjects. They were all happy little cabbages parroting back the information they had "learned."

I think that we are sometimes too afraid of change and long for things to stay just the same. We don't like being taken out of our comfortable little niche in life. We like the same old, same old. I get that way myself sometimes. However life does have a way of handing us surprises that shake up our world, sometimes in a big way and sometimes in a small way.

My Dad's sudden death shattered my world during a time that it was already shaken by the break up of my marriage. There were times when I didn't think I could cope with it all. I learned however that I could adjust and strike out in different ways and survive. I learned how to change my life and it has changed for the better. I am a stronger person then I was before. Through pain I gained a new perspective on life.

The simple addition of a black kitten into our household has changed life considerably. Pixie has brought a new joy to my mother. She isn't as depressed as she was when I first started living here. It is a small change but a significant change in the way my Mom sees the world now.

When I walk I take my camera with me and it is the different shots that I am looking for. I like pictures that have a contrast to them. I like life to be diverse and in my art, writing, and photography I try to express that. With all our differences we are still part of the whole that is the human race. I have learned to be proud of who I am and where I have come from. I am proud of my diverse ethnic, cultural, and religious background. As Popeye would say, "I am what I am and that's all that I am." I have learned to accept me as me with all my flaws. Of course that doesn't mean I have to accept the flaws will always be there because I can always work on being a better me. The picture was taken at the park where the little yellow flower was growing in a crack in the concrete. What a brave little flower.

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