Diversity

While looking at colleges lately, I've run across the phrase cultural diversity. Though on the one hand I feel it's great that people are acknowledging the need, come on really? Using a catch phase isn't going to make people more accepting of diversity. Haven't they paid attention to debates? In my experience people don't like to change their minds. They are comfortable with their thoughts and beliefs just how they are. And it would seem to me that when pushed by an authority like a college to show how culturally diverse one is that many people would just lie and create a story of how they believe in cultural diversity. Unfortunately theses lies and stories fall away when not needed and you're back to the same beliefs they had in the first place. So knowing this, the fact that such a system actually works more often than not baffles me.

All I know is that I love culture and feel like I can't breathe when surrounded in a culture lacking in diversity. I definitely need lots of color, but also the different ways of looking at things that you get with a multitude of people groups mashed together. I am baffled by the need some people feel to close the borders of a country. When growing up I thought the statue of liberty said give me your tired, your poor because we actually believed it as a nation. I feel the internet has greatly cracked the cultural barrier, but am often shocked when I run up against the same internet's need to keep us all in separate boxes. And let's not forget fashion. So many different ideas out there on what one can wear. And though I personally don't really like wearing skirts, the right one can look really great on a man.

Cheers.

What is an introvert?

A basic definition of an introvert is "one who is energized by being alone and whose energy is drained by being around other people." And this is a good basic definition.

But I have a theory about the reason for the drain of an introvert's energy. I theorize that introverts can be more actively aware of what is going on in their surroundings. That their mind is constantly taking in information. And thus an introvert is generally actually more aware of their friends and what is going on in their lives than an extrovert. That in a social setting an introvert's brain can be trying to quantify and store all five or ten of the conversations going on around them.

Which of course brings me to weird thoughts such as maybe introverts are actually better friends. Unless that is of course, that all you really want is someone who just agrees with you without actually listening to what you say and then smilingly include you in what "they" were doing in the first place, because you are done with what you are saying, yes?

Lies, lies, and more lies.

I really do hate lies. I like to know what I am actually thinking, and so I try to never lie to myself. But, I am amazed at how often I meet people who are doing exactly that.
And why? Not totally sure. Possibly it's that they just can't stand themselves so they build a different picture. Or sometimes it's that they refuse to face the consequence of their actions, so they convince themselves that that wasn't what they were doing in the first place. Or any of a myriad of reasons, really.
All I know is that people who really lie to themselves all the time are hard for me to deal with. I don't feel the need to point out to them their lies. They're almost never ready to hear the truth anyways, and really, it's their life. But, I am not going to validate their decisions and tell them how great they are. And inevitably if you're around them for any length of time that is what they want.