What diversity means to me

"At Stonehill, how many of your good friends and acquaintances are diverse (i.e., different from you)?"

This is a question on a survey being sent out to the Stonehill student-body by the Diversity Task Force on campus. To be honest, I don't know as much as I should about what they're trying to do, or what their goals are. I can assume that they're trying to make Stonehill more diverse and inclusive, as well as accepting of all differences. I'm all for that. But I'm for the right differences. As in, thoughts/ideas. Not race, not socioeconomic status...what you have to say is more important to me. Which is why I hated answering the question, "At Stonehill, how many of your good friends and acquaintances are diverse (i.e., different from you)?" Everyone is different from me! If everyone were the same as me, it would be a drone-filled world where no one would do anything but sloth around.

I can find an example of how not only my good friends, but every person, is different from me. In just my friend group at Stonehill...some are female, some like history, some are signing up to fight for our country, some hate the music I like...if there was a person who was exactly like me in every single way, I wouldn't gain anything by interacting with that person. I'd basically be talking to myself. Which is uninteresting.

However, the fact that I now find that uninteresting is very interesting. I remember saying at the end of my college application essay that I was crazy, and that it would be a good day in my life when I would find someone else to be crazy with. I don't want that anymore. I'm not even crazy any...it doesn't matter that I'm still crazy. I'm crazy in a different way. I have new insights, new visions, and new ideas. The Stonehill community has fostered a part of me that is open to listening to any thought or idea. Stonehill has made me the right kind of crazy. And Stonehill should be okay with that, and leave things at that. It shouldn't be about what our prejudices are. It should be about our thoughts and ideas, and how we interact with others.