When You Build a Sky-Scraper, You Build It From the Ground Up
Cultural Diversity Needs to happen from the bottom
By: K.Valley
Cultural Diversity. We’ve all heard it, maybe used the term ourselves. Do you really know what it means? Quick, look away from your screen. Define it. You have ten seconds. Did anything come to mind? Anything beyond the usual “it’s important, it’s…” If you floundered here, you’re not alone. Cultural Diversity is difficult to define. It’s difficult to interpret and to conceptualize. The Harvard Business Review recognizes that even among experts, cultural diversity can be interpreted in a multiplicity of ways.
At the macro and the micro, cultural diversity is the patterns. Whether the patterning is in a shared language, an intrinsic understanding of social norms, for example, respect, how it’s given or not given, the foods eaten, the clothing, the festivals, the religion or lack, cultural diversity is those patterns we share in common with our group.
Consistent with the ideas of macro and micro, cultural diversity can also be embodied within an individual. People from one country moving to, and living in another country, will bring their norms with them. In their new home, these norms will change and evolve. Be it language, food, ideas, components, and ingredients may be integrated and removed to create the new.
This ecosystem is the promise and excitement of cultural diversity. The marriage and creation of the new from the existing. Cultural diversity is about change, evolution, and growth.
Coming from the Latin word, “colere,” meaning to care for the earth, to nurture, the idea of diversity becomes even more exciting. Diversity of culture, people, and thoughts is mandatory for our survival. Championing diversity means we must nurture people and we must do so from the ground up. A top-down approach will not be successful.
Current levels of inequality and injustice in our world today is evidence of the decay caused by cultural homogenization or monoculture.
There’s been one group of people with similar mores that have driven the world to the brink. It is their idea of homogenization and their “values”that have driven poverty and desperation.
The hope of diversity is to reverse the current downward trend.
To power an evolution of caring and nurturing, to foster growth and change, to power a new, more inclusive and caring world. This is the promise of cultural diversity fulfilled.
[SPOILER ALERT]Cabin in the Woods is a horror movie murderously murdering off characters until only 2 remain. The characters left standing at the end are implored to save the world — they’re supposed to sacrifice their lives so the world can continue on as before. A noble sacrifice. Smartly they refuse. Why is a blood sacrifice always the demand?
There is something wrong with a regime that requires a pyramid of corpses every few years.
Now that those in power recognize that all people are required in order to have a shot at survival, we’re supposed to come in and give ourselves to save a culture that has caused too many of us to struggle, blamed us for their screwups, and horrors.
Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.
Even with the pressing need for diversity, must say, I’m not too keen. Because from my vantage point I see narcissists — people who will use those below them for our light, our skills, and our beauty — to remedy the screwups of those in power. But what the powerful promise in return seems to be more of the same — while they stay in power.
Come, bring us your ideas, your skills, your inventions, your new ways of thinking, and in return… Yes? In return what will we get? Crickets.
Haven’t we seen this show already? Promises of change, promises to do better, promises of caring, sharing, a kinder, gentler world.
Narcissists can’t help being who they are. They will use us and drop us.
A world guided by colere isn’t built top-down, but ground up. To craft a better environment for the majority, a return to nurturing, to compassion, to caring is mandatory.
We have to bring empathy, something those in charge don’t understand, back into our world and our lives. Working with colere from the ground up is the way forward to a better world.
“It’s the only way” (Aliens).
[i] hWttps://hbr.org/2019/12/what-makes-you-multicultural
[ii] https://www.livescience.com/21478-what-is-culture-definition-of-culture.html
