🦚 TREE 136: People are all the same, except in lots of ways that matter very much

Food is all the same. It goes in your mouth, gets swallowed, has its nutrients extracted and its useless parts eliminated. The end.

This is true, except for ‘the end’. Because it’s barely the beginning of what food is. It’s barely the beginning on what any single type of food is. Let’s choose beans. There are at least 37,390 varieties.¹ Of the beans you know about, you can probably list half a dozen ways to prepare them before you have to start thinking. Variety is what makes food interesting.

Now let’s consider human beans.²

Variety is what makes us interesting.

And smart,
innovative,
strong,
resilient,
fun.

Variety can make you more interesting too. Make an effort to celebrate and understand human variety. An easy way to do this is to consume the creative output – music, writing, art, movies, etc. – of people who don’t look, sound, believe or think like you do. Let it surprise and challenge. Let it change you.

This week I’m writing about the importance of difference. The FOREST would love to know what books, music, art, films, etc. from outside your same-as-me bubble have had an impact on you. You can tell us in the comments.

Grow diversely.
Jeff

Start exploring variety this morning. Here’s a collision of Japanese classical and heavy metal:

The Memory of TREE playlist – every song from every email:

1. International Center for Tropical Agriculture

2. I’m not sorry.