The basic five things we all want¶
Saturday, May 8, 2021.
I was struck by Daryl Davis who described his growing up as the child of an embassy worker in international schools. He said:
Even though we came from different places all around the world -we looked different, we spoke different languages, we had different ways of worship or different ways of practicing our culture- regardless of all those differences we all got along. We worked together, we played together, we had slumber parties together. And I can tell you something: No matter how far I go from my own country, no matter how different the people may be whom I encounter, when I come back home, I always conclude that we all are human beings and as such we all want the same basic five things in our lives:
We all want to be loved.We all want to be respected.We all want to be heard.We all want to be treated fairly.And we all want the same things for our family as anybody else wants for their family.And if we can understand those values and apply them with anybody and everybody we meet, whether domestically or internationally, if we find ourselves in a culture or in a society with which we are unfamiliar, and we apply those five values or even just some of them, our navigation in that culture or that society will be a lot more smooth, a lot more positive.
He said this yesterday in an online event “Against racism with dialog” organized by Estonishing Evenings. My congratulations to the organizers for their choice to invite this man.
He asks questions. He gathers information. He listens. “When something bothers me, I try to learn about it. I never set out to convert anyone. Eventually they end up converting themselves.” Through a mix of diplomacy and Socratic questioning, he will sometimes see a racist begin to think about his ideology rather than simply proclaim it. Eventually,