Diversity Syllabus

Since the day I read our syllabus I had wracked my brain for a good idea for this project. It was the dark spot on this class for me, a nagging question, what would I do? I considered just going to church and talking about the diversity there, the one between monotheists and atheists in general, but I do live in the South, and, quite honestly, I am somewhat afraid to talk about my lack of religious beliefs. I have been treated differently by employers as well as neighbors because I do not embrace religion, Christianity in general. I have, for fourteen years, been afraid to talk about it around my former sister in law for fear she might not let me see my niece any longer if she knew. “Atheist” carries around a weird stigmatism that I have

Of my fairly limited number of friends, several are either gay or lesbian and I have spent weekends at the lake and vacations with them multiple times. I have spent numerous hours discussing many, many issues with this group, but always on a very individualized basis. I have talked about more aspects of my life with gays and lesbians than I have ever felt comfortable with telling straight individuals, although I have never really thought about why that is true. I went through the grueling early years with AIDS alongside dear friends that I feared might die suddenly and horribly. They, of course, feared it more. Some, one who was a very dear friend, I saw disappear before my eyes as each of them went through rapid fire, ever changing drug treatments while doctors frantically tried to slow down the process and gain some time. One friend had died long before the disease killed him. The constant battle he fought was more than he could take. Little was likely to come to light at any gay or lesbian meeting I might attend today, so I scrapped that

I was welcomed and encouraged to be a part of a group from start to finish, which may or may not be normal at parties. I don’t attend many social events, so I won’t be giving commentary on the “social” parts of them. What was an upside was the feeling of family and friendship where people talked like old friends, not stiff and awkward like many people seem to be. Much of life goes whirring by faster than we can keep up with and it was pleasant to relax and enjoy the moment. There was a lot of laughter and a lot of patriotism. The people at this gathering were happy to have what we claim to want to hold onto, what some try so hard to keep them from having. They risk all, sometimes, as do other immigrants, to gain access to what will never be an exclusive club, no matter the tricks some try to make it so. With risk comes gratitude for what you have and with gratitude seems to come a different sort of respect than I’m accustomed to. I was reminded how lucky I am to be exposed, on a nearly daily basis, to all that makes our country so grand. “Make America great again?” How perfectly silly. Just ask these guys, the majority of whom think it’s pretty great already, and they will tell you why that is