The Opportunity of the Middle

Recently, I had a "get to know you" conversation with a co-worker. During that exchange, I described something I have come to recognize about myself through years of navigating different social spaces. When I "read the room" in my engagements with various groups, I often notice that people tend to categorize others in familiar ways. If you cannot be easily categorized, you can find yourself marginalized.

As I write this, I have paused Van Lathan's conversation on the ONE54 podcast. Reflecting on Resmaa's notion of "virtue," I understand it as the tendency for people to struggle to see beyond their own self-understanding and lived experience. In contrast, I have come to appreciate what might appear to others as contradictions within me. Rather than viewing them as inconsistencies, I see them as a richness of being.

The opportunity of existing in what feels like the middle is that I am not confined to a single, rigid perspective. At the same time, there is also value in being deeply rooted in a particular way of seeing the world. Each perspective offers its own insights. When we express our unique viewpoints in ways that do not diminish or harm others, we create opportunities to encounter the richness that comes from our diversity. Through that exchange, we can experience a fuller understanding of what it means to be human.