Lessons from a Drag Queen...

A prodigal son saves his family's conservative shoe business by manufacturing bright, heeled boots for transvestites.  Yep, that's the storyline of the most inspiring Broadway musical I have seen so far in New York.  It brought me to tears and left me contemplating my search to understand the significance of individual stories in the global scheme of things as we all get mushed together in this "global village" and as we are pushed to adopt common values.  



Manila, New York, cities everywhere are hodgepodges of culture.  Consider the basic impact of cultural diffusion and it is clear that the people flocking the city streets are an assimilation of so many different stories and cultures.  Do they create new culture or are they still essentially of the same place where they grew up?  The farther you drive from Manila, the more distinct culture is found.  Foods, dress, dances, rituals and such change and reflect the culture of specific regions.  After experiencing that culture, it is evident in Manila, but before knowing it, all citizens of Manila looked, well, city-like and basically the same.  I didn't hear the dialects and see the uniquely cultured people in Manila.  It's easier to find in New York where neighborhoods are defined as "Little Italy" and "China Town" but it seems that the cultures melt together.  However, after visiting the provinces in the Philippines, I could find them in Manila.  



I believe that the individual stories and value systems represented in groups and individuals across the world are significant to the survival of all of us.  I worry when the values clashes threaten to eliminate one system or put one system above another.  Call it yin and yang or whatever you would like, but I think we do need balance.   When our ancestors came from Europe and replaced the native concept of land with the European concept of land we began a desecration of resources that we may not recover from.  The same clash of the concept of land ownership turned the Philippine shared tribal land into plantations.  There is value in the ownership, conservation, and communal concept of land.  I believe a world with only one system of land management would fail.  My home culture is threatened by global cultural messages.  As the dominant voices in world culture speak against land use and diesel trucks and guns, "scientists," "environmentalists," and "humanitarians" threaten a subculture that I think matters.  I'm not for pollution and land waste and randomly shooting people on the streets; neither are the Western people I represent. As I move through the crowded streets of Manila or New York, I want my left wing counterparts to know that I value your stories.  I value your perspectives.  They are essential to a peaceful, beautiful, fully operational world.  Can you value mine?  Can you consider what the world would lose if my people gave up their guns, diesels and access to public land?  We are a small population, with our own way of life, but just like snuffing out a tiny species from the ecosystem throws the system off, snuffing out our little stories will throw off the world cultural system.  Our story matters too and is worth protecting.  We are a people, a subgroup, a significant part of the world cultural economy. 

So my new drag queen friend, Lola, from the musical Kinky Boots challenged a manly man to display his manliness by accepting someone for who they are.  My mountain men cowboys have a heck of a time being accepted by those whose rallying cry is tolerance.  It seems they have no tolerance for stories like ours.  Lola accepted the manly man, and I believe would accept my cowboy clan.  The literary world can be idealistic and Lola surely was that!  The Philippines appears pretty idealistic as well as they engage in preserving cultures and stories of what might be the most diverse nation on earth.  Can we learn from Lola and Filipinos to truly value our diversity as well.

I will end with the Kinky Boots Six Step Program for living:

One: Pursue the truth
Two: Learn something new
Three: Accept yourself and you'll accept others too!
Four: Let love shine
Five: Let pride be your guide
Six: Change the world when you change your mind!

Thanks to the man in the sexy, high heeled red boots for a lesson worth living!