Beneath the feet of millions of people lies an enormous land mass that stretches almost 10,000 miles from 75 degrees north to 55 degrees south. Scientists call this the “American Plate.” The rest of us call it, “Canada”, “The United States,” “Mexico”, and about twenty other Latin American countries. The terrain and climate is incredibly diverse but the earth flows continuously as a unified body in complete ignorance of the human labels that attempt to divide it. Its ears know nothing of titles like “Mexican”, “Canadian”, “Northerner”, “Southerner” or “Guatemalan.” It laughs at the idea of “borders” that pretend to separate its inseparable mass.
Above the geological earth however, is a different story. The glaring unity of the earth is overshadowed by a million dividing labels and borders that exist only as feeble attempts to make sense of our great diversity. Travel has always been my greatest teacher of humanity’s striking diversity and surprising similarity.
On a recent trip to Mexico, I was exploring a historical Mexican pueblo and my local friend asked me about my impression of the beautiful countryside. My answer was, of course, “It’s beautiful!” (and it was). But I was also thinking, “It also looks a lot like Texas or Arizona.” And that’s because it is Texas and Arizona. And Texas and Arizona are Mexico. Long before humans came and imposed these labels on the land, it was all a giant flowing “Mexico”. In fact, many Latinos involved in the “border wars” have a saying: “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us.”
Regardless of your particular stance on the complexity of immigration issues (and they are complex), my point is that our labels and borders can highlight our differences to the point that we ignore our equally important similarities. Traveling “Latin America” for the last three months has shed new light on the importance of embracing the complexity of our simultaneous differences and similarities. I went canoeing with Quiche speaking Mayans in Guatemala, went to a barbeque with English-creole speaking friends in Belize and enjoyed a drum show by Garifuna people (descendants of escaped slaves from the Caribbean) in Honduras. There is no doubt that each of these groups is incredibly diverse and distinct from one another (in food, music, beliefs, and language), but they also share deep cultural similarities that are characteristic of living in Latin America.
Embracing and maintaining a “Both/And” mentality in regards to human similarity and difference is a crucial skill for D&I workers of the future. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to learn and experience widely different cultures from traveling to foreign lands, but I have been equally encouraged by the thread of human sameness that stitches us all together in ways we could never unravel. Like the tectonic plates that move in unison below us, we are all also united by a commonality that lies beneath our myriad differences and diversity. We are all, from the northern tip of Canada to the furthest point of Argentina, Americans.
About the author: Travis L. Jones is part of The Winters Group core team. He is an avid traveler, having spent time in over 20 countries on 5 continents. He is passionate about studying the redeeming qualities of cultures as a bridge to creating a better world.
