I’ve always appreciated diversity. I’ve always been proud of my uniqueness. In my youth I was drawn to people of different faiths, race, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Writing about it now, makes me seem like some stoic young boy, a free thinker ahead of his times. Yet that’s not entirely accurate. The truth of the matter is, loving diversity and my own individuality was a survival tactic. I was a Gay, light-skinned, Mexican-Lebanese boy raised by a single mother on the Texas border. Growing up I didn’t have role models like President Barrack Obama, Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor, and Apple’s, Tim Cook. My role models were my family, and their lives were as diverse and complex as mine. My cousins Joni and Steven for example, were born
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When you’re young you don’t think about the complexity that comes with interracial and interfaith marriages. In my adulthood, I’ve reflected on how difficult it must have been for Joni and Steven. However, long before ever asking Joni for this interview, I suspected that her kindness, patience, and accepting nature were a consequence of her upbringing; she had the best of both worlds. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines religious syncretism as the fusion of diverse religious beliefs and practices. Joni’s is most definitely a product of religious syncretism. When asked if she considered herself to be non-denominational, Hindu, Catholic, or both, she responded by saying that she was a spiritual person, not a religious one. Her view of religion as a whole is that it is too rigid and too absolute. She spoke about her life-long friends, a Baptist and a Catholic and how their religion has made dealing with the changing world around them so difficult. She doesn’t follow any particular set of rules, but tries to live an honorable, honest life. She believes in the God of the Old Testament, but also believes in the Hindu Gods. Joni doesn’t believe in heaven or hell, rather she believes in reincarnation and endeavors to someday reach
When you’re young you don’t think about the complexity that comes with interracial and interfaith marriages. In my adulthood, I’ve reflected on how difficult it must have been for Joni and Steven. However, long before ever asking Joni for this interview, I suspected that her kindness, patience, and accepting nature were a consequence of her upbringing; she had the best of both worlds. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines religious syncretism as the fusion of diverse religious beliefs and practices. Joni’s is most definitely a product of religious syncretism. When asked if she considered herself to be non-denominational, Hindu, Catholic, or both, she responded by saying that she was a spiritual person, not a religious one. Her view of religion as a whole is that it is too rigid and too absolute. She spoke about her life-long friends, a Baptist and a Catholic and how their religion has made dealing with the changing world around them so difficult. She doesn’t follow any particular set of rules, but tries to live an honorable, honest life. She believes in the God of the Old Testament, but also believes in the Hindu Gods. Joni doesn’t believe in heaven or hell, rather she believes in reincarnation and endeavors to someday reach