Celebrating Individual Strengths Collectively is Diversity

i was asked to contribute an article for a neighborhood magazine on what diversity means to me. Here's what I wrote :

At the peril of falling prey to clichés, let me open by saying I claim no expertise to what it means to be a diverse individual, but will attempt to put forth what it means to me.
We were one of the first to move into the Ryland built set of homes. From the time our foundation was laid to the time we moved in, we have witnessed wonderful neighbors move in around us. We have enjoyed with them bonfires, wine parties, weekend evening revelries and the odd graduation party. Every instance is a learning when you have the opportunity to interact with a diverse set of people. Every interaction is a story and anecdote you store away for a later recall.
The more one travels, the more one realizes that people truly are the same everywhere, regardless of the language one speaks, follows a faith, has a skin tone/color and preference of sexual orientation. At the bottom of everything are some basic needs that have to be fulfilled universally. Hunger and thirst are the same, the need to provide for loved ones is the same, the sense of right and wrong is the same. If we could perhaps uncouple all the rest of the many man made complications down to some of these basic things, one would think it would be easy to get along, no?
The word diversity is so commonly used these days, our collective consciousness seems to have become desensitized to what perhaps it should truly mean. Diversity is not limited to color, or gender or sexual orientation. Diversity is also being able to co-exist with different thoughts and agree to disagree. It means providing the best chance for each one of us to excel in what we do the best. Being our best at what we do allows in us an ability to see the best in others. Diversity has no place for one-upmanship, just healthy acknowledgement of every strength that should be collectively celebrated.
 In that spirit our experience after we have moved into Cobblestone has been that which we would like to keep very simple. Respect every individual for their intellect, allow room for sharing which can never be a one-way street and embrace differences as an addendum to what we were hitherto unaware of. We believe this is what keeps our neighborhood bubbling, effervescent and exciting. More power to such microcosms, that hopefully leads to a larger sage macrocosm!