There is a place for all of us

I have developed a guilty pleasure of watching Reels. They show up for just a few minutes of entertainment. A few have come in recently around the differences in language.

One was very touching. It was a college student singing on stage with Rita Moreno. She was receiving a Doctor of the Arts from Harvard University. The student was singing a song Ms. Moreno made famous in 1961 on Broadway in the show West Side Story. The song? There’s a place for us. The song is about the love between people who are different, different cultures.

Last week I also watched a reel of the last speech Ronald Reagan made as President. He talked about immigration. His remarks talk about how people coming to the US from different countries helped shape our value to the world.

Then I watched a reel of George W. Bush from 2011 talking about how the country has what sounds like mood swings. We have periods of time where we seem to want to close our ranks and border. He hoped we would rebound so that we could move on to create a better immigration policy. I worry about that as I hear people creating new segregated schools for children with disabilities. Why are we not holding our course toward authentic inclusion?

All these reels had a similar theme…people who are different, in the US, who were not wanted, not valued in some way. All of the leaders, the author and singer of that music, and leaders of this country, took a stand for greatness, a stand for inclusion.

Our mission is all about inclusion. When I look back on our history, we served from day one with a value of inclusion. We stood for the rights of children. We served without regard to race or creed. Our workforce has a large number of people whose first language was not English. Many of the adults we support have experienced discrimination in some way because they are different.

Let’s be honest, each of us is different. We are all unique, gifted with the abilities to inspire and many to do good in the world. We are called by our humanity, and many would add the call of God, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Our role in life must be to bring out that goodness. Help people develop their gifts, avoid trauma, repair wrongs. As we start another 120 years of service, let’s be clear about inclusion. Let’s openly debate how to take on the challenges with a goal of being nothing less than great – a great organization, part of a great world. Happy Birthday, KenCrest.