Aspen forests
Over the past many years, I’ve been in so many public venues where the whole group is white and there is one African-American person participating. Today, I was the single white member in the converse.
What was interesting was how many of the same experiences of parents, families, and friends we shared in 1950’s Cleveland neighborhoods fragmented into a rich mosaic of distinct ethnic neighborhoods. It reminded me of the first lesson in diversity I remember as a young child in the formative years of my social DNA.
After long 7-course, Italian Sunday meals at my grandparent’s, the adults would wax on with stories and commentaries. When they arrived at talk about people unlike us, my grandfather would chime in with one of his favorite mantras: It’s takes all kinds to make the world go ’round.
It’s like an aspen forest, where all trees are traced to the same roots.
