Unity in Diversity

Hello everyone –

With the rapid approach of Independence Day on July 4^th, I’d like to conclude this June’s special series of weekly Quotemails with some reflections on a set of ideals that our country has been nurturing since its founding. Growing steadily through the decades, and not without setbacks, from one generation to the next, we have the ideals of unity in diversity, liberty, and justice for all. Our understanding of these core values of our Republic has expanded over time, and no doubt that understanding will continue to grow as the future unfolds before us. Our society is not perfect – but we are learning and growing up into our ideals while the rest of the world is watching and learning from us.

George Washington's Letter to the Jewish Community of Newport, Rhode Island (1790)

“The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”

“The New Colossus” a/k/a “The Statue of Liberty Sonnet” (1883)

By Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

STAR TREK: Vulcan Philosophy

“IDIC: Infinite Diversity, Infinite Combinations”

BABYLON 5: Episode #91

Preamble: Interstellar Alliance Declaration of Principles

The Universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice…

It speaks in the language of hope.

It speaks in the language of trust.

It speaks in the language of strength and the language of compassion.

It is the language of the heart and the language of the soul,

But always it is the same voice.

It is the voice of our ancestors, speaking through us,

And the voice of our inheritors, waiting to be born.

It is the small, still voice that says

“We are one.”

No matter the blood,

No matter the skin,

No matter the world,

No matter the star:

“We are one.”

No matter the pain,

No matter the darkness,

No matter the loss,

No matter the fear,

“We are one.”

Here, gathered together in common cause, we agree to recognize this singular truth and this singular rule:

That we must be kind to one another.

Because each voice enriches us and ennobles us, and each voice lost diminishes us.

We are the voice of the Universe, the soul of creation, the fire that will light the way to a better future.

“We are one.”

Quotemail will return next Wednesday with a special Fourth of July edition, to be followed throughout July with salutes to the space program as we remember the Golden Jubilee of the Apollo 11 lunar landing in July 1969.

Rob