The company you keep

Right now there's a lot of harsh talk coming from Trump and his Trumpists about all sorts of types and groups of people, from Mexicans to Muslims. Because of the life I have led, having spent much of my existence interacting with people from all across the globe, I sometimes have great difficulty understanding the hatred that seems to be spewing primarily from Red-state America. I think I am even more sensitive to the evil of Trump because at times during my life I have been the immigrant, the outsider, relying on the kindness of others and the approval of the governments of other countries.

I find myself again, in a faraway land, as a minority, "The Other." Yesterday, 70 students from Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan arrived on our campus.  Of course, I have only interacted with these students for a little more than a day, but I am struck by their good humor and their overall demeanor. They seem to respond to my stupid jokes and kidding the same way that past students I have encountered from Italy and Japan and the United States and Saudi Arabia and Central America have as well. And the bowl of chocolate in my office has the same attraction and impact across cultures too! Perhaps I am hopelessly naïve, but somehow I believe that things people share in common potentially have the power to unite people as much as the things that divide us have the power to destroy us.  It is those like Donald Trump who serve as the destructive counterforce to my community chocolate bowl and all it represents.

Also consider this: the faculty of our University is from the United States, Germany, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Azerbaijan. The librarian is from upstate New York and his two assistants are from Tajikistan. My current supervisor is from Canada. His replacement will be taking over next month. She's from Latvia. The head of campus is a woman from Pakistan who has recently lived in Canada. The gentleman who has been managing the construction project of our campus is from Scotland and one of the crew is Australian. The super high tech windows in the buildings are being installed by a crew from Serbia. The university counsellor is from Nelson, British Columbia--only a three-hour drive from my home town. The registrar is Russian, by the way. I also have an awesome student life staff I work with. They are from Utah and Alberta and collaborate wonderfully despite their divergent backgrounds. Our campus doctor is a woman from Kyrgyzstan. Our two main chefs are Pakistani and they conduct most of their communication in Urdu; I think they devote a fair amount of their energy trying to figure out how to work with the remainder of a kitchen staff that only speaks Kyrgyz. We also have a communications staff led a by a gentleman from Singapore. He works with a young woman from Canada, another woman who, I think, is Kazakh, and one other guy; I have no idea where he's from, and when I think about it, his land of origin really doesn't matter.

The company you keep says a lot about you. I think most people who are Trumpists, have had the very sad misfortune of only living with people like themselves. They fear others because they do not know others. Cultural isolation might be one of the biggest factors explaining this election. Those who don't keep company beyond their narrow tribe seem more likely to be Trumpists. People like me who keep a wider circle of company can never accept or support the hatred and nastiness that Trump represents, because what we have experienced in our lives and what we have learned from spending time in diverse company, has disproved every spiteful word that has come from Trump's mouth. Not all that defines us as individuals are factors from within, but instead we are often shaped profoundly by the company we keep and the transforming power that can come from people beyond our usual horizons.

As I sit down and think about the company I have kept today and how it might be more varied than what many Americans might encounter in their entire lifetimes, I am filled with gratitude for this amazing gift I continually receive.