The Color of Differences

“It is not our differences that divide us.

It is our inability to recognize, accept,

and celebrate those differences.” 

(Audre Lorde, Our Dead Behind Us: Poems)

In mid-December Anna and I were on our way to the Bay of Pigs on the southern shore of Matanzas Province, Cuba. Our tour guide was a beautiful soul, full of gratitude for her country, her job, and for the day she was spending with us. Along the way we observed and learned about a perspective different from our own.

Cuban roads are an experience of 1950 era cars, fairly new tour busses, horses pulling carts, and people on peddle bikes; all this on their main highways as much as on the back roads. Such patience and cooperation is expressed in the gentle beep of a vehicle horn as it pulls up behind a slow moving cart, waiting for an opportunity to pull around. 

Cuban houses are an expression of the Buddhist ideology of impermanence. They are predominantly concrete in construction, and with the exception of new buildings, they are eroding away. Cubans simply do not have the resources to repair their homes.

Then there is the Cuban government; it is defined as a "Marxist-Leninist Socialist State." I'm not aware of the many layers of implications that this involves for the average citizen, however, our guides gladly illuminated free education and health care, and guaranteed jobs as benefits of the system (they neglected to touch upon the prison system, food shortages, or travel restrictions).  

“Don't let your luggage define your travels,

each life unravels differently.” 

(Shane L. Koyczan)

I found myself experiencing a sense of dislocation in Cuba as a consequence of these many observed differences. Upon further reflection, I realize that I was seeking to make sense of Cuban life through a Canadian lens; more even, through my particular lens. The result was that everything appeared out of focus, somewhat smudged. Reflecting post-Cuba, I am mindful of the "Bill lens" through which I process my experiences. 

“Caminante, no hay puentes,

se hace puentes al andar.

(Voyager, there are no bridges,

one builds them as one walks.) ”

(Gloria E. Anzaldúa)

To hear another's story, to truly take it into one's self, is to be willing to set aside, at least for awhile, one's own view of the world. The story of Cuba is a tapestry rich in color, woven over centuries of conflict, struggle, and hope. Walking the streets of Cardenas, street dogs and chickens in tow, I was greatly aware that even as I observed life around me, that very life was also observing me. Our stories co-mingled there on that dusty street. For a moment I shed the skin of my perspective and looked at the world through another's lens.

I saw then, not Cubans, not tourists, just people. We all had the same look in our eyes - a desire for connection, community, safety, and meaning. We wanted our lives to be worth something more than the circumstances that birthed us. Blue, brown, and hazel-eyed Cubans cry over loses, weep in joy at the birth of babies, and spark with anger at perceived injustices. These things I understand, for my being also cries, rejoices, and reacts to an unjust world.

It is possible that when the skin of culture is scraped away, when the history that colors our experiences has faded, that we really have very few differences. We hunger, we hurt, we heal, we long. Culture is a story unique to geography, time, and circumstance; humanity though, is one species, one people. Canadian culture differs from Cuban; Canadian humans are one people with Cuban humans. 

This Christmas season, this time of cultural and religious undertones, perhaps we can be mindful of those who seem different than us. Love is a bridge builder - spanning lives, stories, histories, and differences. Christmas celebrates Love coming into this world, to heal, to renew, to bring humanity together. Let us then honor Love by celebrating the differences that give us color and hue, even as we see beyond diversity to the Light that defines us all.

I leave the last word to singer, Bob marley:

"One love, one heart . . .

Let’s get together and feel all right” 

(Bob Marley)

The color of differences...

incomplete stories.

Flowers

of every shade

and hue

scent

and texture

are

nonetheless

flowers

Enjoy

the

Garden

To Ponder Further:

- From the Bible: "make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose." (Philippians 2.2)

- From Hinduism: "“He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.” (Bhagavad Gita)

- From Islam: "Would you become a pilgrim on the road of love? The first condition is that you make yourself humble as dust and ashes." (Ansari of Herat)