Holiday Acceptance All Year Long
New York is a land of cultural diversity. We are the "melting pot" from people all over the world and I'd always loved hearing and learning about different traditions, celebrations, articles of clothing, beliefs and the diversity of so many people that all seem to be so different yet are more alike then we ever may have imagined.
I was very fortunate to grow up in a home where the door was always open. Especially during the holidays, neighbors, family and friends always managed to converge here. With my father having served in the military, he had friends from all walks of life and from all over the Country and beyond.
I learned about diversity at an early age. EVERYONE was welcomed here and no one gave a second thought to their culture, belief or status in life. And so it is working with my clients who are also from all over the world; we are always respectful of their beliefs and customs. Every day we work with new clients we learn more. We are made all the better by learning to just pay attention to PEOPLE.
We are all SO alike-and ALL so different. How do you spell Acceptance? Four simple letters: "L O V E".
May we all have LOVE-at the Holidays and all year through.
http://www.FengShuiLI.com
That was so matter of fact but soooo true! Acceptance is love. Wonderful!
Acceptance of differences Carole I agree makes us all better.
Carole, acceptance IS love...there is no other explanation! What a wonderful post, and so appropriate at this season. I really liked this one!
Carole- Wow, this was probably one of your shortest Posts, yet one of the most powerful....we are indeed so alike each other no matter what differences it is the similarities that matter the most. Thank you for taking time to enter our Contest.
Just beautiful, just like you.
Carole- Acceptance = Love. How beautiful a thought that is. Diversity brings us together Love keeps us together.
So simple and so beautiful. L O V E is how acceptance should always be spelled!
Carole.... I love diversity.. especially the acceptance part, no matter what you are or where you came from. Today's society is so judgmental and or label/stereotype. In any case, I agree with many of the comments..
Beautiful. So beautiful.
Hi Carole! Thank you for entering the Holiday Acceptance Contest. I hope you have a Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy New Year.
Carole: As the song goes, "the book of life is brief and once the pages read, all but LOVE is dead"... Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Sally, I knew my time was almost up--that is what acceptance is to me.
Gary, Wouldn't the world be a better place if we ALL felt that way?
Linda, Thank you. I loved Sally's contest and will be excited to read all the people who submitted.
Kathy, As Gary would say "I wouldn't have missed it for the world." Goodness, that will never leave me :)
Audrey,Thank you so MUCH for the re-blog, how incredibly nice that was to find.
Martha, It makes me wonder if we make things more complicated then they should be.......
Crystal, I was lucky to have grown up that way--so it's never something I gave a second thought to.
Jeff,We are critical AND judgemental--and I can't understand why. Live and let live should be something we don't forget.
Kris, Thank you my friend.
Tami, I wish you the same--and a year of blessing to go with both!
Donna, What a lovely thing to add....I am wishing everyone a beautiful holiday season!
great great post, what a interesting concept , to be generous , loving, giving every day, except for the week that surrounds christmas
This is a wonderful post. I totally agree that diversity is the spice of life and makes life in general much more intersting. Sounds like being exposed to so many diverse people growing up really impacted your life in a positive way.
Carole,
You've stated it so perfectly....exactly what it, and the world, are all about. Like they say ~love makes the world go around.
It sounds like you had a truly magical childhood...I'm so glad you have these memories.
Jo
Well said, as always Carole! Up with people--no matter from whence they came!
Hi Carole,
Great blog and great photos too.
You are right on so many levels.
Happy Holidays to you and yours,
Tamara
Hi Carole - I grew up in the military, too, and our door was always open just like yours. I always felt we were so very fortunate to have grown up the way we did!
Thanks for entering this post into the holiday acceptance contest.
Ann
James, Thank you so much. This is my wish for all years...
Rich, It really did--it gave me a respect for ALL people in life, no matter what their beliefs.
Jo, I had a wonderful childhood--I was very lucky. We always had the OPEN house and it was always filled :)
Loretta, Thanks--I am SO glad to see you!!
Tamara, I took those pictures in a park...talk about freezing to get a good shot :)
Ann, It sounds like you loved it as much as I did...we always had visitors from all over and it definitely had an impact on me.
LOVE WINS!!!! Beautiful post Carole.
Hi Carole... What a lovely post! May it be a season and new year filled with love, good health, happiness, peace and prosperity for all of us!
So very true Carole acceptance is about love......in the most general sense, what a wonderful opportunity you had growing up - meeting people of all walks like that........we seldom had people in our home..........we all have such different family backgrounds don't we? :-)
Cathy, I hope it does--Love is the great ruler of everything.
Steve, I wish all the same to you! I think for many of us this new year will be better then we ever expected!
Liz, We all have different backgrounds but so many of us are the same--even here in the rain. It doesn't matter where you come from--we all connect so well. I hope you are goind very well in your new job!!
Carole - When I was a child my Mom and my Grandmother both instilled what I perceive to be one of life's most basic truths.
If you were to strip the hide off every human on the planet ... you would find the same thing underneath.
While we all may originate from different cultures we all look for the same things in life. And that, in a nutshell, defines the human race.
Wonderful post, Carole! Great words...I always loved the diversity of cities, but didn't want the crime and grime. So we moved to small towns, and VACATIONED in cities! We got a big dose of culture and diversity every year, by visiting Houston, Minneapolis, Chicago, and the hubs and I went to NYC 2 yrs ago...
Carol, I love the way they taught it to you--what profound words that I will remember. Powerful life lessons we fortunately learned early.
Cheryl, I have been fortunate to have vacationed in many places as well, here and overseas. Please come back to NY (and call me :)
Hi Carole - lovely post and photos. I too love cultural diversity, which we haven't had much of in our community - a reason I like going to large centres.