It happened in sixth grade. I was sitting at my desk in English class when it started to snow: big flakes. My English teacher walked over to a window and raised it. She reached out and caught some snowflakes on her sweater.
“Look! Look!” She said: “Did you know snowflakes are really ice crystals.” “The crystals start by forming small hexagonal shapes, and branches sprout from the six corners as the crystals grow.” “No two crystals are exactly alike.”
There arose a loud rumble as the entire class popped from their desks and ran to the windows. Soon all windows were open, with a dozen arms reaching out to catch snowflakes.
Seated close to a window, I was quick to catch the flakes and study them. The teacher was right about the diverse shapes of the snowflakes. It was amazing how unique and beautiful they appeared. As I looked in wonder at the tiny ice sculptures questions begin flooding into my thoughts. How, and where are they created, why are they so fragile? When I became older learning about snowflakes was often on my mind. I read all the available material I could find. I never lost my fascination for them.
In college I studied people, their psychology, religion, politics, and philosophy. People are unique, beautiful and fragile like the flakes, with no two exactly alike. Our world is made up of endless diversity. We truly live in a classroom of infinite proportions.
That English teacher sparked my curiosity as a child, and it lasted a lifetime. The more knowledge I acquired about diverse religions, cultures, and societies, the more I became transformed. I became myself. No images to maintain; no acting to exhibit; no list of achievements and acquisitions. I became humbled, not by knowledge acquired, rather by the amount unknown.
Embracing diversity can be a little scary in the beginning. But persistence will soon overcome the routines of past acculturation. Knowledge of others is your path to self-knowledge; your path to self-confidence; and your path to freedom from the confines, and conflicts of diverse thought processes. Embrace the diversity of others, learn from them. Share and coexist, you will be blessed.
© 2018 – 2019, Lekatt. All rights reserved.
