Pineapple on pizza

“This is Lieutenant Eli’van’to.” [.]

Eli [.] took a step forward, giving the girl his best smile. “Hello, Navigator Un’hee,” he said. “As First Officer Khresh said, I’m Lieutenant Eli. I understand you wanted to talk to me?”

“Yes,” the girl said, her voice soft and nervous. “Do they also call you Ivant?”

“That’s my core name,” Eli said. “Or it would be if I were a Chiss. Obviously, I’m not. In my culture, my friends and family would call me Eli.”

“Eli,” Un’hee said, frowning. “So just the first part?”

“Yes”

“Strange”

“Some of the things about us are strange,” Eli conceded. “Of course, to us some of the ways of the Chiss are equally strange. But that’s good. Learning about each other’s ways and learning how we’re alike despite our differences is a way to enrich our lives”

~

Used as we are to our own ways of doing things, it's easy to fall into the trap that *ours* are the only *right* ways.

From how many onions we chop into the tomato sauce to how we dress on Sundays, from how an "attractive woman" looks like to kissing on a first date, we tend to flat reality to fit our molds.

Diversity is complicated to handle, and we end up being categoric in our visions, afraid of what is new and unknown.

Curiously, the "right way" is never the same, even if clusters of humans, comforted by alike cultures, think otherwise.

Living in these boxes might be safe, for some.

But always thinking that we know better, do better, constantly pushed by this invisible mandate that we need to teach everyone else how to live their lives is, let's be honest, exhausting.

The start might be frightening, but it reduces to a single, aware choice.

Let it go.

Pineapples will fall on pizza, and women will marry women, and the world will still stand.

Wonder and surprise will still be there, but they will be welcomed, as curiosity and the feeling of learning will inexorably kick in.

Diversities, then, will be seen in amazement and awe, showing the unparalleled richness of human -or alien- experience.

Like a gift.

[Let this wonderful cowboy from the Wild Space guide us in how unpredictable and amazing life can be, if we are open to it.

All my gratitude to @poppourrico ​for this precious Funkopop]