Check Diversity at the Door and Look for Shared values First

Shared Values

I guess I just don't see things the same as a lot of people.  I remember those group exercises at work where you were asked to go over questions to determine if you were more like this animal or that animal--or some other metaphor that would determine whether you were a leader, a follower, and this or that. Often when I took those tests my results were mixed. I was seldom a rabbit or a dog, but maybe half rabbit and half dog. It got to be frustrating because I stood out in these training sessions and with my employer you really didn't want to standout. 

Although my test results were always mixed, I have written before that I am not big on diversity. I know that sounds like heresy today, but what I mean is I respect differences in people, but I am pulled towards people of different (diverse) backgrounds who share common values with me. 

Someone who is some kind of witch may value dark spirits and sing songs to the devil. I am not attracted to that, although it is diverse. I used to know some foreign students who hated certain races that represented their neighbors back home. I also knew some foreign students who believed every American was out to steal their money.  I wasn't fond of that diversity either. I remember a person of a certain European extraction who worked for my old company and was in town for a training session. He had decided that he didn't want any part of religion because he didn't want it to weigh his behavior down. I heard his view the day after a late after-meeting cocktail party where he was trying "pick up" one of my colleagues. He demonstrated to all of us that a little religious conviction might have saved him from making a fool of himself. No, I find more and more evidence that valuing diversity for diversity's sake is not a real good quality. 

My son worked with foreign students and still does. He used to bring some of them home for visits. We had a Chinese graduate student with us for several days. Her background, religion, culture, --you name it was far different than ours. But she was here 10 years ago and we are still talking about her. But again, it wasn't the differences that endeared her to us, it was her values and compassion that transcended everything else. She had a lot of the qualities that we valued and she had her own way of expressing them. She had such a wonderful appreciation of my wife and for those days it was like she was another daughter. 

I have this sense that it your own values are in order, you can check diversity at the door and first figure out whether the people in question have their values in order as well. I don't think that should be a problem.