A Sense of Difference

Reading Zenju Earthlyn Manuel's very beautiful book Way of Tenderness for a second time ,  I reflect on whether the sense of diversity or difference truly divides me from others, or whether it's a cause for celebration. I would like to qualify my remark with a question, what does it mean to 'celebrate' the existence of another being, and how is this "celebration" different from appropriation of the other? 
   I think that celebration represents the middle path between trying to possess something one has made into an exotic object and trying to reject others in favor of a kind of false state of independence. To celebrate others is to be able to behold them for their special identity and qualities, without, as Manuel insightfully observes, trying to distort the "Other" to one's own fantasies or desires. It also requires a certain humility to understand that there are a lot of things I cannot know about another person, but I can still appreciate what I do understand about them. 
     This leads me to another observation I had, and that is, I tend to equate liking something to knowing about it. For example, when I am in an art gallery, I can't help but want to understand what the art is "all about" (note the all-encompassing term "all" in this phrase), without the ability to simply stand in awe of it. There are certainly times when I can be amazed by another creation or in awe, and there are other times when I have to acknowledge that I cannot relate fully, even though I do have a basic wish to connect. Manuel would go even further to suggest that connection is not something that a person even needs to make consciously but already pre-exists between people. The key is that it cannot be forcefully brought into existence; it's there already, but needs to be appreciated over time to understand its meaning.

Manuel, Zenju Earthlyn (2015). Way of Tenderness: Awakening Through Race, Sexuality, and Gender. Boston: Wisdom Publications