A multifaced prism is one of the most beautiful things in nature. I’ve always been fascinated by prisms because although they are made from a single stone, and appear on their surface as a single color, when you look deep inside them, and gaze through them, you see a complexity that tantalizes your vision.
Even more wonderfully than this, when you hold it up to the light, something amazing happens. As light passes through the prism, it is bent and refracted by the angles and surfaces of the prism. Each wavelength of light is refracted by a slightly different amount. As a result the light that passes through refracts into a dazzling array of colors that span the entire color spectrum. This light dispersion pattern that you see depends on the material and the particular cut on the prism. But it also depends on whether and how a person chooses to expose the prism to the light. A prism held in darkness will always appear only as a single clear stone.
In 2009 the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave a TED talk that she called “The Danger of a Single Story.” In her talk, she discussed what happens when people are reduced to a single narrative. I often think about this when pondering conversations of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. (Equity, by the way, is maddeningly elusive.) I am not a single story, and neither are you. I am a complex, wonderful, multi-dimensional, multi-faceted prism. As in any multifaceted prism, I can be viewed from many angles. Depending on how you choose to view me, you will see different things.
Who am I? If you know me, how would you describe me? Even as I write this, I ponder which descriptor to lead with. I will list several descriptors in alphabetical order. I am African American, Christian, Cisgender, Educator, Father, Friend-maker, German-born, Husband, IT professional, Jesus-seeker, Maryland suburbs-raised, Male, Middle-class, SDA, Son, University Administrator, whose primary goal in life is to help others see and bring out the best of who they are and want to be. Any of this surprise you?
The truth is behind the Black, Male, IT administrator that many of you encounter here at LLUH there is a complex, multifaceted child of God. Behind you and each of our colleagues and students there exists the same.
We have a duty, privilege and obligation as an institution to lift each of our colleagues and students out of the darkness and expose the beauty of who they are to the light. As we lift more people into the light, we will be amazed at the kaleidoscope of beauty that we will see.
Who are you? I’d love to hear. dpharris@llu.edu
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