The Importance of Celebrating Our Diversity

The Oxford Dictionary defines diversity as being diverse or having variety. Diversity is greater than the sum of its parts; for humans, it includes race, ethnic origin, color, religion and creed, gender and sexual orientation, age, ability, and other individual traits that make each one of us unique. As humans, we make ourselves known to each other in many ways by expressing our beliefs, values, religion, politics, identity, language, and more. Celebrating our differences, which is what makes us diverse, is essential to humankind. 

We all understand the importance of diversity from a scientific perspective: you cannot have a sustainable, productive ecosystem without maintaining biodiversity in the landscape. And just as variety is the spice of life (and who doesn't love variety in your spices!), diversity in the workplace has been proven to result in higher profitability margins, increased insight & innovation, improved quality of decision-making, and greater employee motivation and satisfaction. In addition, dozens of studies and decades of research have found that diverse teams tend to be smarter than homogeneous teams: they often think more logically, are more creative, and are more adept at identifying errors in thinking. 

So it's imperative that we embrace the differences that make each of us unique. Both professionally and personally, diversity and inclusion are values we can promote and uphold in multiple ways:

• Acknowledge people by their names.
• Reference others by their preferred gender identity.
• Attend diversity celebrations such as Juneteenth, Pride Month, and others.
• Volunteer or host an event on diversity.
• Host a film festival that stars diverse actors.
• Provide resources on diversity.
• Bring speakers to your workplace.
• Put on a cultural exhibit.
• Educate others that may be diversity averse.

Celebrating diversity can be done individually or in a group, quietly or with great fanfare, spontaneously or with detailed planning. Attending or hosting activities that promote a greater understanding of our differences is essential to helping us learn how to become better at accepting one another. Here are some reasons why celebrating our diversity is vital to humankind:

• We broaden our understanding of different cultures.
• Celebrating our differences and commonalities helps unite us.
• It helps expand our understanding of others.
• We become more tolerant of others.
• We become more aware of ourselves.
• Creates a sense of pride in our culture and other cultures.

Celebrating diversity is one way to counterbalance the animosity and vitriol that undermines the fabric of our societies. The U.S. is a nation of diverse individuals; it is up to us to embrace that diversity and use it to our country's advantage.

^{Courtesy of Fresh Finance.}