On a recent conversation I had with someone not like me

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[a] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

I ventured over to Northtown mall to see the glasses my wife picked out at Pearl Vision, and to fill out the PearlVision 90 day financing application. Unfortunately, the person who knew how to set up the Pearl card wasn't in. The gentleman apologizes for my inconvenience, but promise that tomorrow he would know how to complete that task.  He suggested Saturday would a good day for us to return.

As I meandered out, I stopped for a drink of water when  I saw the African-American cleaning person busily wiping down the walls. I learned from my son how important it is to talk to those we normally would think to have lower status than us- so I struck up a conversation with this slender cleaning person. I remember my son always taking time to talk with the maintenance man on his college campus as he went to classes or his IT work study job.

"You're doing an awesome job making this place sparkle!" I said.  Immediately his eyes lit up and I'm sure it had been a long while since one of the shoppers had taken notice of his work, or even say hello for that matter. 

"How long have you been in the cleaning business?" I asked.  He said 10 years at Northtown.

"Hi, my name is Todd, what's yours," as I extended my hand for a shake.

"I'm Walter."

"Nice to meet you, Walter!"   I added.

As our conversation progressed I couldn't help but think this conversation would never have occurred had I  stuck to my worldview of only talking to people who were like me. As I continued asking him questions, I found out that Walter had family in Green Bay, St. Louis and here. He said that everybody in his family is crazy busy that they seldom see each other.  I added that my both sides of my family were the same way with all the conflicting work schedules and in the case of my wife's family everyone being spread across the country.

 As we continued talking, I  found out that he attended an all-black church which prompted me to share my experience with diversity. I told him that the Church I currently attend is very diverse and the few times my wife and I attended a 'white' Church on the outskirts of the Metropolitan area we were uncomfortable because of the lack of diversity.  Walter immediately said, " I felt the same way going to the all black Church because I enjoy talking with people of all ethnicities."  I reflected on what he just said before adding, "That is what I love about Minneapolis and the surrounding suburbs that we are diverse and made up of many cultural groups."

Not wanting to take him away from his work duties, I shook his hand and thanked him for all he did in his cleaning job at Northtown Mall.

I 'm sure Walter will remember the compliments of the work he does and the conversations we had because I took the time to get out of my comfort zone. 

As I began my walk toward the car I began thinking, what if all of us made a conscious effort to have at least one cross-cultural conversation a day?  What if we affirmed people from other cultures without looking down on what they did for a living?  What if we stepped out of our comfort zone and get to know people not like us?

I think the world would suddenly become smaller and less scary than the media leads us to believe.

Yes, diversity is a beautiful thing!