12/15/2004. Diversity for all

The end of the year is for all of us a time of reflection. Especially as we get older, the end of another year seems to blindside us with the abruptness of its ending. As this particular reflection has been rumbling around in the back rooms of my mind for some time, I thought I'd share it with you in the form of a holiday wish.

For the new year and for the rest of your life, I wish you an increasingly diverse world.



What on earth do I mean by that, you're probably wondering. Well, think about it. The tendency of just about everything on our planet right now is to diminish in diversity and become more homogenous. Species of plants and animals are vanishing daily--the most obvious diminishment of diversity. Traditional cultural practices all over the world are slipping into oblivion. Whole languages are being lost! This is terrible when you consider that every language represents a distinct way of looking at the world.




Traditional horticultural varieties of fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants are being lost in areas of the world where there is no ongoing effort to preserve them. Entire ethnicities--groups of people with distinct cultures--are being obliterated. Traditional ways of preparing foods are giving way to the snacking and fastfood of a rocket-paced lifestyle. Recipes may be vanishing forever! Small farmers are decreasing in number.





Specialized independent stores that you would have been enchanted to find are going under, even in Paris, the city with probably a greater concerted effort to preserve them than any other place in the world. Mall stores--homogenous around the planet--are metastizing everywhere. Small newspapers and radio stations in the US are either going down or being swallowed up by media giants. Either way, the tally is less diversity in the opinions and information that reach the public. The number and variety of published authors is decreasing as publishing is consolidated in the hands of a few giant corporations. Ditto for bookstores, impoverishing our choice of what to read. Do I need to go on?


As I've entered the fifth decade of my life, I've recognized that diversity is something I value and treasure incredibly much. Diversity drives much of my life and the choices I make.

In fact, diversity is essentially the reason I moved to France. I didn't figure this out as such until a couple of years ago. All I knew was that I was incredibly comfortable here. When I visited France, I felt suffused with well-being. I felt enveloped and cozy, and at the same time, I felt my personal boundaries expanding. It felt so good that I decided I had to live here.



What I've figured out is that it is the diversity of France that entrances me and, well, fits me. France is essentially a country that celebrates, preserves, and encourages diversity in all its disorderly, gloriously stimulating tangle.

This pervasive quality of diversity is why those of us who love to visit France, do. It is the sense of discovery and delight that comes with exploring the richly diverse fabric of life here. Walk the streets of Paris. What do you notice? I notice all the tiny storefronts, selling who knows what...feminine accessories, Basque foods, items made from snakeskin, molds of people's hands... I'm sure I'll never live long enough to discover all that Paris has to offer. Not even long enough to visit all its bookstores! In fact, the only bookstore chains I've seen here are the Brentano's and WH Smith catering to the English-language crowds.



Want to get a book published? Chances are, you'd be able to do it in France, as there are hundreds if not thousands of small, independent publishing houses, an idea that makes me squirm with delight.

One reason that this wonderful commercial diversity continues to thrive in Paris is that what are called grandes surfaces (big surfaces) here--the French equivalent of WalMarts and their ilk--are not allowed within the city limits. If any of you hail from small-town America, you may remember what happened when WalMart or Target opened up in your area. Your small downtown got boarded up and died. Is raw, unadulterated, unabated free enterprise always the best thing?



While the grandes surfaces unfortunately have arrived in rural France, the French defend their regional identities with such fierce vigor that their effect--while not negligible--has been less deleterious than in the US. Nevertheless, many a small French town has lost its wonderful cancaillerie, or hardware store, to the local monster. However, no one can call a country with 500 cheeses lacking in diversity.

So where am I going with this diatribe? I am imploring you to live your life in such a way as to encourage and preserve diversity to the utmost of your ability. Was it Buckminster Fuller who said, "Think globally, act locally"?



Start in your garden, of course. Plant the greatest diversity of species you can. If space is limited, forget about the usual landscape suspects. Plant unusual species, native plants, heirloom food plants, forgotten annuals. And watch what happens. The diversity of animal species in your immediate surroundings will increase amazingly. You'll see beneficial insects, butterflies, and birds you've never had before. And just the act of observing them will enrich your own life.




But the garden isn't the whole of it. Be diverse in all your actions. Cook new recipes, including some of your own devise. Buy ethnic spices and foods you've never tasted before. Read a genre of literature you've never even glanced at, a new author even. Support small but excellent magazines and journals. Learn a language; it'll rejuvenate your mind. Increase your vocabulary; make it a point to learn and use new words. Write! Befriend an older person and learn about his or her life.





Turn off the television. Play an instrument. Read book after book to your children. Travel with a sense of adventure and delight. Shop at farmers' markets. Boycott malls and chains. Favor independents with your patronage. Cook a fabulous dinner at home for your friends instead of eating out. Be an agent for diversity. You'll be so much the richer for it, and in a small but significant increment, so will the planet be. Happy New Year!

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