Yes, we have to be willing to get along. But, what happens if some people don't want to? Or some people may want to get along, yet not for anyone's interests other than their own. They see it more as the 'Land of Opportunists'.

We I got out of college, I got a job working for the State of Michigan.  There was much diversity within the work place, and I was fine with that.  I guess their experiences and observations showed them that everyone was not fine with that.  And their response was that we should all participate in an in-service training for 'Workplace Diversity'.

We were broken down into groups ...and it didn't seem that their was much diversity, in my group anyway. But, here is the scenario:

A young girl, in her early twenties, is engaged to get married to a young man who is a missionary, stationed in Indonesia.  Her mom is so happy for her daughter, she decides to treat her to a vacation, to see her fiance.

They decide to surprise him, and when they get there, he was about to go on a boat ride with his best friend ...also in the mission field.  They were going to explore some new islands to see if they were inhabited, and possibly come up with a plan to share the Gospel with them.  

He was so happy to see his fiance, he was going to postpone the trip, but Mom speaks up, "I see you already got a captain all set to take you, I don't think he'd mind if two more went along."

 But, a sudden storm comes up.  His friend is hit by a big wave and tossed overboard, so he gets the lifeboat and tries to rescue him.  The mom and daughter can barely see them as their larger boat continues to toss and turn.  They quickly lose sight of the lifeboat, not knowing whether the rescue was successful ...or whether they were able to survive. 

 The captain tries to keep his own boat seaworthy, but crashes against some rocks.  After what seems like forever, the light of day comes, and the storm calms. They are able to see they are just a few yards from an island shoreline.  The three of them are able to wade to the shore.  Mom helps daughter search for her fiance and his best friend, while the captain relaxes on the beach sipping out of a coconut.

After exploring the entire island, they are certain nobody else is there.  Mom is the first to see smoke coming from another island near the horizon.  Her daughter runs back to where they had last seen the captain, hopeful that the smoke means that her fiance and his friend had safely made it to that island.  She begs the captain to try to fix the boat, so she can see if her fiance is alive.

The captain thinks about it, then says, "I think I can fix the boat, but only if you agree to sleep with me."

She runs to her mom, crying, "What do I do, Mom?  I want to get to my fiance, but I'd have to go along with the captain's request."

Mom says, "My sweet daughter, you'll have to follow your heart.  I can't tell you what to do."

The girl desperately can't go on thinking that her fiance could have perished, so she agrees to the captain's terms.  The captain keeps to his part of the bargain, fixes the boat, and they travel to the other island.

When they get to the other island, her fiance and his best friend are there ...and she runs to her fiance and jumps into his arms.  She tells him, "I love you so much ...I couldn't bear being away from you, thinking you may not have survived!"  She then tells him the dilemma the captain had left her with ...and tells him she had slept with the captain.

Her fiance is stunned, and turns away ...walking down the beach away from her, saying, "I never want to see you again.  I don't care if we all die on this island."

Her fiance's best friend sees how distraught she is, and tells her, "He doesn't mean what he said ...it may take him awhile, but he will comes around.  Meanwhile, I'll help take care of you ...and make sure we all survive."

Our assignment was to decide which character was our favorite, and who was our least favorite character ...and to explain why.  But, we had to decide as a group, vote on it, and the group leader for each group was to be the spokesperson ...presenting what the majority decided upon.  And it so happened that the group I was in, unanimously voted me as group leader.

The others in my group were in total agreement, but I was in total disagreement with them.  Their least favorite character was the best friend ...because they said he was trying to take the girl away.  I said that they could only assume that ...and that the story did not reveal that intent.  But, they were certain of it.  I felt I was in a group of very insecure people. (By the way, my group was all guys.)

They also didn't like the Mom ...because the daughter had gone to her for advice, and she virtually gave none.  The real shocker for me though, was that their favorite character was the captain ...because he knew what he wanted, and found a way to get it.

I suddenly began to feel a bit angry ...and had quickly lowered my opinion of the people in my group.  When it was time for the presentation, I tried to begin by saying,"What our group came up with, I in no way agree with ..."

The person running the seminar interrupted me and told me that it didn't matter what I thought, it was what the group had decided.

I thought the whole 'Diversity Training' was a worthless experience ...and that whoever came up with that stuff was a sick person too.  And now, though this was probably over 30 years ago, this comes to mind again ...because I have been hearing that our government is indoctrinating the youth with this very concept, that it is not so important how we think, but what interests the whole and benefits the majority view.

(Unless, of course, that is reversed by convenience with any argument where we feel the individual is more important than the group.  If there are only two persons ...then does one hold all the importance, and the other none.  Consider this with the abortion debate.)