Diversity and Inclusion

Today we had what BP likes to call "D&I Day." Is is basically an excuse to have free food all day long and bring in speakers who talk about various diversity or inclusion issues. The first speaker today was talking about the need to respect and love ourselves before we can respect and love others. She went on about commonality and looking beneath the surface blah blah. I could understand the point she was trying to make, but it still seemed like there was this huge part that was missing. The whole thing was approached from a purely human perspective. It just seemed like it was more about "feeling good" and "being happy" for yourself. Including others, and celebrating differences were good things to do because of what they did for you. I can't remember off the top of my head what the four major themes were but one was "We are all similar and we are all different." Another one was "Communicating with compassion." Both of those are good, but as with everything else she was saying, they revolved around self. She recommended taking some time in the morning to "listen to your heart and connect with your inner being." It is all so close, and yet at the same time so far away from hitting the mark. Unless God is the center of our lives we will not be able to achieve this inclusion and understanding of others. When you examine it from a Catholic point of view, all the pieces fit. We are all the same. We were all created in the image and likeness of God Himself. We all have eternal souls. But at the same time we are all different. Each human being is unique. We all have free will. When we look at this world keeping in mind this fact that we are all children of God, and when we see in other people God Himself, it follows that we will treat others with compassion.

We are faced with many social problems in our society, but they are impossible to cure without knowing the cause. The root cause is that we have taken God out of our lives. We are trying to address the symptoms without acknowledging the disease itself. It is as though a doctor were handing a band aid to a patient who has been in a horrible car accident. It might cover a scratch but it won't do much good beyond that.