Sometimes things become clear all at once. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does there is an impact.

On Saturday, January 11, 2014 I attended a diversity training event sponsored by the North Fair Oaks Youth Initiative. There were about 40 young people, some leaders and six fools present. The training was presented by the Public Allies of Silicon Valley.

The trainers started out with an ice breaker, one of which was to make a choice and walk somewhere in the room to demonstrate what you chose. Most of the choices were not very important and most of the questions were somewhat ambiguous. By way of example, we were asked, “would you rather be the richest person in the world or live forever?” Or, “would you rather be half as tall as you are now or twice as heavy?” Sometimes they would ask someone to say why they made a choice. One of the people who chose to be twice as heavy said that she could always lose the weight but she could not gain the height.

Then the leader asked: “Which is easier, being with people who are just like you or being with people who are different than you?” I followed the herd. It seemed sort of obvious at the time; it is easier to be with people like me. They almost all were like me on that point. I mean, she didn’t ask “which is better” or “which group lets you learn more.” She asked about what is easier.

Our very own Thomas Atwood was one of the two or three who went to the other side of the room. The leader asked why. Thomas said something to the effect of:

“This is an example of short term thinking versus long term thinking. Yes, it may be easier in the moment to spend time with someone like you, but there is a downside. Take a look at nature; plants and animals thrive in a complex ecosystem that includes many different species and varieties, each one bringing something to the system that the other needs but cannot produce for itself. If a farmer plants only one crop he depletes the soil and needs to add more fertilizer and pesticides to compensate for the damage that the monoculture created. Only when plants and animals live together can they thrive.

The same is true of people. We are all here. If we want to survive as a species we have to learn how to get along with each other. We can each bring something that another needs, and we can have our needs met by things brought by others. Yes, in the short term we might prefer to spend time with people just like ourselves but it is a long term disaster. As a result it is easier to spend time with people who are not like me.

He nailed it. The concept and the clarity with which he stated it has haunted me since.

The human equivalent of a monoculture in agriculture needing more fertilizer and pesticides is the high level of maintenance required to obtain cultural conformity; more laws, jails, and greater oppression. In politics, when we spend time only with people who think like we do, we lose the benefit of other ideas. An echo chamber can tell you what you want to hear, but you don’t learn much.

Thank you, Thomas. And thank you Silvia Ramirez. We were there at Silvia’s invitation. Come to think of it, many of the most interesting things that I have done recently involved an invitation from Silvia.