diversity

   What would our lives be like if we were all the same?  Boring and unchallenging.  I feel that diversity is of the utmost importance in each and every place in our lives.
   I grew up in Hudsonville, MI.  Look it up on Wikipedia.  You'll find that we're a city of less than 10,000 people, famous for our muck farms (and Taylor Lautner) and that we are almost 98% white.  That leaves 2% for all other races.  (And in case you aren't keeping track, that's a lot of race to fit into 2%.)  Now, I'm not saying I don't appreciate where I grew up.  Quite the opposite.  Hudsonville and the surrounding areas have been a safe place with a lot of support (in all kinds of forms) and a boatload (lake reference!) of opportunity to develop into a fairly well-rounded individual.
   However, what it clearly lacks is racial diversity.  And that's the only diversity Wiki will tell you about (let alone hudsonville.org which leaves out those types of statistics altogether).  It doesn't mention the relative lack of ethnic diversity, spiritual diversity, socioeconomic diversity and sexual orientation (or at least of its relative acceptance) about which only someone who has lived in Hudsonville could really tell you.
   I recently had a long conversation with a police captain and family friend (one and the same here) about what kind of people he looks for when hiring new officers; he said that he can absolutely tell the difference between someone who has had a lot of diversity education/experience and one who has not been exposed to as much.  He went on to say that those who do have had the diversity education/experience make better officers and overall better individuals both on a professional and personal level, and tend to be the ones he hires.
   This one instance is part of a number of instances lately that I have come across where diversity proves an integral and absolutely necessary part of what a human being needs to have to be a better individual.  Hudsonville, as I said, was a great place to grow up in safety-wise, but safety can only be a part of growing up.  If Hudsonville thinks that it would compromise some safety in order to integrate a more diverse population, well I say, so be it.  I hope that Hudsonville starts to attract more people of diverse backgrounds for the sake of opening the minds of the residents and challenging the apparent "tried-and-true" methods and ways of thinking to which people of the area seem to hold (maybe a little too) strongly.  
   I am not saying that Hudsonville needs to re-think everything the city has ever known; I also believe in standing for what you believe is right.  What I am trying to say is that it is critically and academically advantageous for open discussion outside of the walls of judgment and prejudice.  From my own experience, we can learn quite a lot from someone who is different than we.