A colleague of mine gave me one of the greatest compliments I think I could receive the other day . . . . he told me . . . Rhonda, you are a walking example of someone committed to cultural diversity . . . you talk the talk and you walk the walk. I don't know if I am truly deserving of these words . . . I really don't feel I "walk the walk" as much as I should or could . . . but diversity is so important to me . . . to society.
That's one of things I've enjoyed the most about this city. It is so incredibly rich with diversity. Even with our own little small existence . . . diversity exists . . . for example:
I'm a "Methodist" by training, my daughter attends a Catholic school (Episcopalian in Little Rock), and we recently joined the Jewish Community Center for sports and fitness activities, somewhere I feel completely comfortable thanks to my former fiance who is Jewish . . . We have friends who are African American, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Middle Eastern . . . my daughter has been asked to play in a primarily Hispanic soccer tournament because we have Latino friends . . . In my daughter's class at school, she has classmates from Nigeria and China and classmates whose parents hail from Panama, Peru, England, Poland, Brazil, and Greece. She attended an incredible Chinese New Year's celebration with her friend from China. She's learned so much from her friends whose parents have the "interesting" accents and share their culture, dances, and dress. (She especially loves the head dresses of her friend's mom from Nigeria.) This wealth of interesting, diverse people has inspired my 10-year old to spend hours with her interactive "smart" globe my brother gave her to learn all about places I'm not sure she would have had an interest in otherwise.
I feel so lucky to have all of these people in our lives, and truly don't understand those who would close themselves off to a segment of society because of someone's color, race, national origin, or religion.
A dear friend of mine, a cardiologist from Syria, is about to go back there to visit his family. I hope he is able to return to the U.S. Our federal government has identified Syria, along with six other countries (Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Cuba, and North Korea) as state sponsors of terrorism. My brilliant friend, a Christian from Allepo, who works every day to save lives in the United States, would never be associated with terrorists or terrorism, yet the threat is very real that he will not be able to return to the U.S. at the end of his visit simply because of where he is from . . . it happened to one of our myeloma physicians . . . he's still in Syria, after more than a year . . . unable to return because the State Department will not grant his clearance. I will be very sad if I never get to see my friend again. I love his stories of Allepo. I love the way he says "good, good" as a response. (It sounds like "goo (d), goo (d)", long "u" sounds --- very cute.) I love the way he tried to incorporate "y'all" into our conversations . . . his imitation of Southern dialect is extremely amusing. He taught me to say his name the way it is pronounced in Syria, which is very different from the way Americans say it. (He and his colleagues from Syria all worked hard to assimilate after "9-11". He went with me to Razorback football games (would never call the hogs, but laughed hysterically when I did) and took me to meet the Syrian ambassador to the U.S., Imad Moustapha. When we went to dinner, he (a cardiologist!!!!) would eat hot dogs, meat pizzas, and steak . . . which always amazed me, and occasionally would slip into Arabic and realize it only when he noticed the puzzled look on my face. . . . lol . . . We were trying to plan a trip for him to come to Denver and catch a concert before he leaves for Syria . . . between both of our crazy schedules, I'm not sure he'll make it to see me. In any event, I will be praying for his safe return from Syria.
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