Does Diversity Make Us Better?

This month the city of St Paul is celebrating Diversity Month. Last week I attended an event called "Jazz: An American Model of Diversity". At this event there was a live jazz ensemble and the musicians spoke about how diversity has had a great impact on jazz music. The musicians also told individual stories of how diversity made them a better jazz musician. One of the musicians, the bass player, spoke of the time he spent playing in the Caribbean and how his style of playing was completely different their style of playing. He said it was a great experience because he learned so much from them and they learned so much from him. He took what he learned from the Caribbean jazz musicians and began using that style of playing all around the country and it has led to a very profitable career for him as a musician. He also noted that the Caribbean musicians adopted his style of playing and they also have profited well in their music careers. And the remaining musicians shared similar stories that day. It made me realize that diversity can make us better because it exposes us to a world of new ideas and possibilities that would remain unknown without diversity.