Ashley Mwanza

After a spiteful experience in Dublin last week on my way from work I was left pondering on the aspect of diversity and what it means. Any nation is like a deck of playing cards. No matter what the sex, suits, or ranks of each card are, all are significant in their own way. Without one card, the deck becomes incomplete. Ireland, similar to a deck, is insignificant without diversities. Diversity is what makes any nation complete. "United we stand divided we fall." With diversity, a nation is strong and no matter what obstacles are ahead, they can be overcome.

The young, we are repeatedly told, know less than their forebears. Yet in my experience the young don't know less, they can actually teach communities across the island of Ireland and around the world that we are growing and changing every day. The hope brought by the diversity of young people isn’t obvious just from looking across a room but through our togetherness. We can easily turn back to the tragedy that struck Toyosi Shitta-bey and see how the youth came together in grief. The message was simple... this must never happen again! Now that is progress fraught with hope.

What is diversity?... Every person or group has unique characteristics, abilities, beliefs, opinions, traditions, and appearances that can be different from others around them. Diversity means all types of religions, races, ethnicities, cultures, etc., living in harmony, free of any and all prejudices. Equality and diversity should go hand in hand. Diversity can refer to many variations of experiences, backgrounds, values, beliefs, etc. present within our communities and our world. Simply put, a variety of people working together as a whole and not letting differences divide them.

But why diversity? Nature loves diversity. Why? Because diversity improves the chances of survival. As soon as a species enters a new environment, nature begins to adapt and change the species. If the species could not or does not adapt, it becomes extinct. In addition, the more species there are, the lower the chance that a single disease will make extinct all life.

Through many years of famine and pestilence, many farmers now know this. Clear cutting the existing diverse vegetation and planting only one crop, year after year, brought a bountiful harvest. For awhile, anyway. But wise farmers found that rotating crops to something else or inter-planting other crops (i.e., increasing diversity) could reduce or prevent the probability that the land would turn fallow. The Irish potato famine is an example of what happens when only one strain or species is planted and disease wipes out the entire crop. If multiple species were planted, some might be killed by disease, but the chances that all would be is reduced. Hence, it seems critical to our very survival to ensure diversity.

During the many years of political correctness many in society now know this. A society locked into one way of thinking, acting, or being is a society ripe for disease. Whether mental, spiritual, or even physical, disease will always, in time, rip though such a culture laying waste to entire regions. Again, it may be critical to our very survival to ensure diversity.

With that said, it would be just as incorrect to go to the other extreme. For example, a community that cannot communicate amongst its members, because there is no common language, cannot survive. But even then, here in Ireland, as the various ethnic groups came here to live, study and work, a kind of mishmash of languages sprung up to create one common language so that everyone could communicate the basics. The language is that of unity. There was no need for a law to mandate a common language, it just naturally sprang into being through pure necessity. But it can only be made richer by incorporating the words from all spheres into one and for all to adopt this language of unity. Sadly not all have adopted it, but it should be the task of each and every one of us to ensure that they eventually come to accept this universal language. Woefully it is far from being fully accepted but it can be done and it ought to be done.

Extremism, whether for or against diversity, is not consistent with nature. Wise men do not fool with Mother Nature because bad things happen when you do, likewise in our midst. I believe in diversity for the simple reasons: It is a boon to unity, an incentive to enhance human potential, and hope for a better world.

As published in The African Voice.

Ashley Mwanza

IN our lives we all know that there are times when we feel like giving up. It can come through struggles, discouragement, opposition, and especially criticism of what we are doing. Look at your reasons for giving up. Examine them closely.

Think it not strange regarding the fiery trials which have come against you. Always remember the song by Earth, Wind and Fire, called ‘Devotion’, it opens by saying, "anything you want to do in life takes devotion". It seems just as we are about to take a step, something comes (or tries) to come to knock us off balance, push us out of our place, divert our focus. So if you want to accomplish something in life, you must devote yourself to it.

Today, more and more people are at the breaking point. Most despairing people think only of giving up on themselves. You hear it so often now, "I can't go on anymore. I just can't make it. It's totally hopeless! Why try?" Most people give up in defeat. We look into a mirror reflecting a face covered with misery. We live with heartbreaks, hour-by-hour crises, and horrible problems. We look into the uncertain future, frightened and worried.

Paraphrasing Allen Wheelis, the important thing about despair is never to give up, never wrap up and put away a sterile life, but somehow keep it open. Because you never can know what’s coming; never! That’s the great thing about life, the crucial thing to remember. You may beat your fists on a stone wall for years and years, and every consideration of common sense will say it’s hopeless, forget it, spare yourself; and then one day your bleeding hand will go through as if the wall were theatrical gauze; you’ll be in another realm where birds are singing and all things are possible if only you try, and you would have missed it if you had given up, because it might be only that one day the wall was not stone.

How are you feeling today? I really would like to know what’s going on with you? What’s New? What’s Good? I ask you what is new and good because it can be so easy to get too focused on what’s old and bad. We all too often get wrapped up in what isn’t going well or what doesn’t feel good, without even knowing it, so I always try to ask people what is new and good. I know it helps me when I’m in need of a mental and emotional shift! We all have those times in our lives, when things just don’t look the way we want.

Whether it’s our job, our body, our relationships, our spiritual practice, our exercise routine, our social life, or all of the above and more! I find that it is so important to get used to and accept the ebb and flow that is natural and totally relevant on this journey we call life. Unfortunately, it is very tempting to entertain the idea of “giving up” when the going gets really tough on us. How many of you are going through something like this now? I just happen to be coming out of a period like this myself.

Sometimes we’re afraid of giving up, sometimes we give up because we are afraid. The wisdom comes in knowing the difference. Are you acting out of desire, or out of knowing the rightness of your actions? Giving up desire can be a good thing. Releasing control can be a good thing. If giving up on something makes you feel bad, though, it might be important to keep going, Tao asks us to flow like water. Water is persistent, and tries to keep flowing somehow. But if it stopped, it can turn into a calm lake. Gather enough of it, it is a great ocean. If it is penned up, it can turn into a raging torrent, wearing down anything in its path. If it is controlled, it can generate immense power. It can be a gentle rain, or a damaging flood. It is essential to life, or it can destroy life. Water can be channelled into a useful force, or become a destructive one. The choice is really ours to make.

One friend recently reminded me never give up being positive. Maybe you’re the negative person in your life! Never give up looking at the bright side. Here is a guiding philosophy in life: It will work out, it always does. You have to always believe that what you’re doing will work out great, and you have to operate under that belief, even in the bleakest, darkest moments when it doesn’t look like any of it will be OK.

Positive thinking won't make your problems go away. Confessing that these problems don't really exist doesn't change a thing either. We should not exclude the Gethsemane experiences of life. The cup of pain, the hour of isolation, and the night of confusion were all part of the Jesus’ lifestyle. Our great achievements, our successes, ought to take place at Gethsemane!

The sawdust trail for many has become the gold dust trail. The Bible has become a catalogue, with unlimited order blanks for life's goodies. Anything having to do with Job-like pain and suffering is considered negative. God is good and one should always think on good and honest reports-but pain, poverty, and suffering have befallen some of the saintliest of God's people-just like righteous Job.

The sacred scriptures say "you will reap in due season if you faint not". Now therein lies the rub and this is where many lose out of the opportunity they have worked so hard to reach. You can't give up, you must remove those words from your vocabulary. Until you reach that place when your preparation and your opportunity meet, you can't give up. Sometimes it only takes one more try, if you stop short you will never know if the next thing you do, the next person meet, the next try you make will be the one that places you squarely in front of your opportunity.

Moving forward doesn't mean going a thousand kilometres or miles per hour, every hour of every day. It does mean, don't stop. One step is moving you forward, one phone call, one visit, one question, one class, one more event may be the one more thing you need before you find what you have been hoping for. So before you call it a day, quit, give up, or stop, realize that anything you want to do in life requires devotion. You will make it because you can!

A fall is never fatal to those who keep their faith intact. In spite of despair and pressures that bog the mind and sap the strength, I believe in God. I believe He will "keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy" (Jude 24).

Surge forth, do not stop!