Palejovo ABC - DIVERSITY

In nature, each ecosystem requires a wide variety of plants, animals and organisms to grow, flourish and be in balance. It is the excessive interference of humans that causes this harmony to be upset. And while our planet can do just fine without humans, we can no longer do without it. Therefore, more and more initiatives are being created that address the topic of caring for insects, not mowing lawns, turning them into flower meadows and much more. The importance of diversity is not just about the environment. Equally important is the social one, which, by the way, is impossible to escape from, although the dream of some people is to make the whole world uniform.

Imagine two gardens. One of them is full of the same flowers, they could be roses, just like in the Little Prince. It's hard to appreciate individual plants when they all look the same, and at the same time there are so many of them that the mere sight of them can be slightly tedious and the smell overwhelming.

And now let's move to the garden, where the caring hand of a gardener or horticulturist sees to it that it grows both flowers, shrubs and trees that give shade from the scorching sun. There will even be room for unruly clover, and perhaps even nettles (you can make a salad or soup out of them!). Such a garden invites squirrels and birds to take up residence in it. It is also rare for any pests to do much damage, as they are quickly eaten by birds or moles.

This first garden metaphorically represents what people see when they discriminate against others - they see one shade of color, only one size and one shape that they consider appropriate and beneficial. The second garden represents what people see when they understand and appreciate that the world is diverse - different colors, types, different shapes and sizes. They see a garden where flowers grew in their own way and bloomed at their own pace, and each plant looks good growing next to a flower different from itself.

"Each of us is different" is a phrase so often repeated that it has lost its force and become a platitude. And this is a pity, because there is a profound wisdom behind it that is worth returning to. People differ from each other not only in the qualities that are visible at first glance. They are also different in the way they think, how they react to what they encounter, their religious beliefs, but also their sexual orientation or gender identity. By accepting that other people are different from us, we open ourselves up to the fact that we can learn from each other and live in harmony. We realize that there is strength not only in similarities, but also in differences, as we can complement each other through our different and unique experiences.

However, when meeting someone unfamiliar and learning about their world, there can be anxiety and distance. We fear the unfamiliar and the new, because it takes effort and willingness on our part to get to know and understand. We have no confidence that it will be safe for us to come into contact with someone other than ourselves. It's a mechanism that evolved to someday help the next generation survive. This is because it is easier to live in an environment and among people we know well, because we more or less know what to expect, what to expect and what to avoid. With new people, we need time to get to know and understand them. Hence, people often try to make things easier for themselves and use established patterns, replicate stereotypes and judge others by what they once heard about them, instead of becoming curious about the other person and seeing how we really are when dealing with them.

Diversity can often be closer than we think. We only have to look at our own family to see that our loved ones make choices that are different than we would like, or behave in a different way than we would expect. Strenuously trying to shape the other person to fit in with our wishes will sooner cause him or her to move away from us than to meet our expectations.

During arguments, people often take the position that they are right and others are wrong. If our main goal is to convince the other party that they are wrong and to encourage them to change their minds, such conversations usually degenerate into fruitless bickering. Each side digs in even tighter to its position and closes itself off from hearing what the other person wants to convey.

"Do you want right or relationship?"

Of course, you can have both. The key, however, is how we build this relationship or how we want to show that we are right. What other people do is usually, in their view, right and beneficial. If they thought otherwise or could do otherwise, they would act in a different way. When we accept this and look at the person with curiosity and respect, there is a chance that the other party will share with us their understanding of life and their motives for making such and not other decisions.

The next time you discover that you are trying to control another person to think, act or become like you, remind yourself that the other person is not you, and that it's OK to be different, as long as they are not hurting you, themselves or others by doing so. This, of course, works both ways - just like others, you have the right to be different, to think and live differently, as long as you don't hurt yourself or those around you with your behavior.

In our community, which is growing larger every month, we at Paley European Institute draw on diversity on a daily basis. This helps us to operate even more efficiently and better respond to the needs of our small and those quite large patients. On our team, each employee is different and distinguished by different qualities or skills. There is room for both introverted and extroverted people, those highly sensitive and those who need a lot of stimulation to feel alive. We speak different languages, often come from different parts of Poland and the world, form different relationships, and have all sorts of passions. We follow the motto: "Nothing human is alien to us." We are committed to making you feel safe and comfortable with us.

In your stories, we often hear the sadness, grief and shame caused by how other people have treated your children or you, seeing you only as a disability and not as a human being. Every day we try to influence the world, also to show in it that each of us is valuable in his or her own right. We are all beautifully different, and therein lies our strength.