Why Equality and Diversity? Come on, Don't Be That Guy; Don't Cause Hypoxia

Whenever I think of equality and diversity, the human body comes to mind. Just like society or a community of people, the human body is made up of many different parts. Externally, we have hands, legs, ears, eyes, the torso etc. Internally, we have diverse organs like the heart, kidneys, lungs, intestines, brains etc. But all these diverse parts and organs in the body is what we call diversity. If all the parts of your body were legs only, you will not be a whole human being. You will be just a collection of legs. You will have no eyes, nose, hands, or even stomach. You will be just a bundle of legs, a pile of legs.

Diversity is natural, and it is necessary and fundamental to the maintenance of the holistic flourishment of any ecological unit. This means diversity is needed in maintaining the flourishment (i.e., the holistic health and wellbeing) of society. However, all the parts or members in a diversity must be potent to actively interconnect and interact with each other to maintain that holistic health and wellbeing of the unit whole. When we say potency of every individual member, we are referring to the healthy and capability levels that enables the individual to operate as an agency of interconnectedness towards the flourishment of the unit whole. Moreover, for every member within the diversity to maintain potency, they must have equal access in the equity of resources that offer this potency. This right here is equality at work. This is what equality means. In other words, the flourishment i.e., the wellbeing of every ecological unit (or community) depends on its level of commitment to diversity and equality.

This means, as people, we must appreciate and promote diversity and equality if we believe in securing the flourishment of our community as a unit whole. No two people within a community are the same. Even identical twins have different fingerprints. This implies that all members in a community will not manifest in sameness; you will always encounter otherness. Therefore, the process of equality is necessary because it allows them the access to equity in resources of potency and still bear the freedom to maintain and function in their otherness. People have diverse hues and diverse heritage. People have different beliefs, different tastes, different abilities, different choices and different opinions.

Let’s do some physiology. To stay alive and healthy, the body needs oxygen supply to every part. We inhale oxygen into our lungs. But just like the postman, we need someone to distribute the oxygen to all parts of the body. So, our blood serves as the postman or deliveryman in this scenario. First, oxygenated blood (i.e., blood carrying oxygen) is pumped from the heart. The heart works like a pumping machine and connected to the heart is the aorta which is like a big pipeline that receives the pumped oxygenated blood. The aorta is connected to arteries which further branches into arterioles and links to capillaries that supplies the oxygen and other nutrients in the blood to the cells and tissues.

Anyway, let’s not do too much with that. This is how far my elementary science can go, but just so you know, all these connections and branches of arteries spread through the whole of our body like how roots of plants spread through the soil. It reaches every part of our body from head to toe. So, the oxygenated blood flows from the aorta through all these passages to the capillaries where the oxygen is released in proportions to tissues all over our body, even down to our toes and fingertips. It is remarkable, isn’t it? That right there is a perfect example of how diversity operates in equality. Every different part, no matter how little they are, get equal access to the distribution of oxygen.

But imagine if there happens to be a blockage in the arteries supplying the right hand. That means oxygenated blood will not reach there. The tissues in the right hand will run out of oxygen, and that will cause hypoxia. If the blockage persists, the hypoxia in the hand will get worse and that will cause problems to the whole body. Problems like being in a state of confusion, restlessness, headache, anxiety, rapid heart rate, rapid breathing, and shortness of breath. And guess what! If the blockage still persists, the next severe situation is heart attack.

Let me ask a question. You firmly believe that all kids deserve to be happy and healthy, isn’t it? So, imagine if some kids are violated. Imagine a kid falling prey to abuse, bullying, hate, harassment, discrimination and victimisation because they are different: they look, they talk, they walk, they dress, they think different. Violating others harms them and denies them of their health and wellbeing. It is like blocking oxygen supply to some parts of the body. You cause hypoxia to your community. You make your community sick when you violate others for being different.

In this analogy, the hypoxia is the polarisation and fragmentation you cause in your community or society by depriving others to function in their otherness. You create a toxic environment of “us against them” culture when you undermine the natural process and primordiality of diversity and equality. Don’t be the vessel of chaos and toxicity in your community. Be that agency of interconnectedness who promotes diversity and equality to foster the holistic flourishment of society.