CELEBRATING DIVERSITY THE RIGHT WAY

Those who have lived both in Europe and in America, have hardly failed to notice that food, like bread, dairy products, etc., tastes differently on the other side of the Atlantic.

This difference is a well-established fact, and there is an authoritative explanation for it: the difference in the soil makes the difference in everything that is growing or feeding on it. And there is only one proper way of looking at it: more power to the gourmet!

By the same token as "saporific" diversity enriches the gourmet world of choice eating, there can be absolutely no substitute for cultural exchanges and interaction, where individuals of different backgrounds rooted in different soils honestly exchange the fruit of their native upbringings. The purpose of such exchanges must not be to convince each other that “the bread is the same,” which of course is not true, but to point out those differences, to make them comprehensible, predictable, thus dramatically reducing the fear of the unknown. Supposed to promote peace among nations, honest cultural exchanges between the nations of the world are a sacred duty of all individuals, representing these different nations, and it is a real crime against humanity to misrepresent your own roots either by trying to please the foreign culture that plays host to you, feigning similarity, or in a prudent effort not to shock your gracious host with a presumably high degree of revealed dissimilarity. Playing the chameleon in such a case would be an immense disservice, just as devastating as deliberately telling them, with an ulterior motive, only what one thinks they would love to hear.

It is true that truth can be hard to swallow. In extreme cases it can even lead to war. But it is the cover-up of truth that advances the bleeding and inhibits the healing. The short-term effect of being ‘pleasant’ promotes the cancerous growth beneath the symptom-free surface, and the inevitable long-term effect of withholding truth is a metastasis of the malignancy.

I wish I’d known the ultimate magic of being both truthful and pleasant. But with the multitude of experts descending on America from the regions, all vying to ingratiate themselves on her by telling what she loves to hear, the truth is bound to be condemned, even if it tries to adapt itself to the rules of the etiquette. There is no hope for the voice in the wilderness, unless the stranger knocking on the locked door turns around and goes elsewhere, to find an open mind... somewhere, somehow…

The core of the problem here is not with the scoundrels who come to America bearing sweet lies. It is in the atmosphere of self-admiration permeating this country and making such scoundrels welcome, and their lies amply worth their while.

…Celebrating diversity the right way. This is something America has yet to learn.