Unity speaks of harmony between similar or dissimilar individuals or groups. A people may be different in every area but united by a common goal, a common purpose, a common interest…so unity in diversity demands that the people involved identify and understand the things that unite them and value those things over and beyond the things that divide them. For example, although there is a great difference between human beings and being human, not everybody understands this fact, but we must be united by our common humanity regardless of our diversity. I may look different from you, but I am no less human than you are because of my looks. When I am thirsty, I drink water and so do you. When I am hungry, I eat food, although my food looks like trash to you, it satisfies me and quenches my hunger the same way your burgers does for you. When I am bruised, the blood that comes out from my body is not yellow or green or black…all human blood is red regardless of the color of their skin. Before you pinch me, pinch yourself and see how it feels. If it makes you happy or pays your bills, then go ahead and pinch me. I also want to be happy and I want my bills paid.
Unity in diversity connotes unity without uniformity and diversity without disintegration. It acknowledges our differences but stresses our commonalities. Life would be boring and monotonous if there is uniformity of everything. Everything cannot be white and black. God created the world very colorful, and this evident all around us. Look at the animals in their kingdom, they are colorfully made and beautiful in their natural habitats. Even the different genera of the same family come in different species…that’s nature’s way of abhorring monotony. As you go down the kingdom you see the differences in their diversities, and often times, they don’t eat their own specie even when they are hungry. Although they may fight among themselves, they often unite against common enemies. They fight to prevent extinction of their kind.
Unity in diversity encourages, not oneness of kind, but oneness of purpose, not just based on tolerance but based on understanding of the uniqueness in the differences between people. Different people bring to the table different perspectives to the same problem and different ways of approaching common challenges. A balanced team is often made up of people with some kinds of different lenses through which they view the world and look at issues. In a community, often times a team is made to represent all the possible views out there in a bid to making the decisions and policies inclusive of the different interest groups. This is a leadership issue, understood by leaders who want to be successful. When counsel is needed, as is always the case, the different groups need to be consulted in some ways so that their perspectives are factored into the final deal, otherwise he who is not on the table may be in the menu, howbeit inadvertently. In the multitude of counsel there is safety.
Unity in diversity encourages each person to be authentic and genuine while letting the other person be themselves. This is crucial. When we understand that we all share a common humanity, then we let our diversity be a strength instead of a weakness. Everybody has his strengths and weaknesses, so diversity could be a strength and it could be a weakness. When we identify the different groups in our team, we can leverage on the strengths of those individuals. For example, who doesn’t know that every time the United States wins an Olympic medal chances are that it was won by an African American? Who doesn’t know that if the United States scores a goal in soccer chances are that it was scored by a Hispanic American? There is a place for everyone and when everybody contributes his fair share, we all win. You can be yourself and I can be myself and none of us takes away from any of us by being our authentic selves.
Unity in diversity is not just about accommodation but about adaptation and acclimatization. Unity in diversity may start with accommodation, but it has to go beyond that. We have to accept and adopt diversity into the fabric of our culture. When we win the Olympics, it is the United States that wins not the white or black or Hispanic, the same is applicable when we lose and come behind in science and mathematics. Whatever is not appreciated depreciates, so if we don’t start appreciating our diversity, it becomes a weakness rather than strength, and instead of benefit us it hurts us. This is the problem we have in other countries like Nigeria, where certain people think of themselves as born to rule others. A country that belongs to one group more than the others will lag behind other counties due to internal frictions and strife. Development becomes retarded on all fronts. I wish this weren’t the case in Africa. Have you forgotten “Ghana must go in Nigeria” or “xenophobia in South Africa”? Those policies and mindsets are as retarded as Apartheid which we all condemn as if it was not people that decided and implemented it for so long. Those policies were informed by the thinking around “we” and “they”. At the end, they leave everybody worse off. Every time we create those man-made rules born out of greed and avarice; we all lose. Those are the only time we have true situations of no victor no vanquish. In any case, we have to be tolerant of people that reason differently and talk differently and believe differently or we are not ready to advance to the next level of development. For example, America is a country of immigrants, and she will do well to leave her doors open to the class of immigrants who have skills to contribute to the advancement of the American society. Immigration has probably brought us more blessings than curses.
Unity in diversity admits the differences we have along racial, ethnic, religious, cultural, geographical, sociological, ideological and political inclinations yet demands that these difference act as strength and as forces to hold us together instead of put us asunder and at each other’s neck. This has been said or insinuated in different ways. We may not agree on religious or political issues, but we must agree on morality and good governance; we may not agree on sociological and ideological issues but we must agree on our common humanity and our need for peace, joy and the pursuit of happiness – inalienable rights that must not be taken away from anybody in spite of our differences and similarities. We must come to that stage of development and advancement where we agree that there is something good about the different components of us regardless of our individual inclinations. You don’t have to belong to my school of thought but unity in diversity requires that you be tolerant of my views within the law. Although you were not there when the constitution said “we the people” but you are here now so you were included in it regardless. The next generation of us must go beyond the lousy lines that divide us along racial and religious lines, to more ideological discussions around the core values that not only highlight our common humanity but our commonalities as citizen of a country whose flag we all pledge to defend. This applies to you no matter the country with whose passport you travel.
Mezie Okolo is a pharmacist and leaderpreneur @TheRitePlace, www.mezieokolo.com