What do pigeons have to do with family recipes?
Read our mission below to find out.
The Mission.
To change the overall conversation from focusing on diversity, a.k.a. our differences, to focusing on our similarities.
The Why.
1990.
I attended a very diverse high school where two of my best friends were Indian and Egyptian and I am of Europen decent. What brought the three of us together as friends? We all loved the New Jersey Devils. Hockey is what brought us together. Not three different religions, three different nationalities, or different family traditions. What brought us together was a shared interest.
That’s why when our school made us gather for “Diversity Day” I remember asking “How is pointing out how we are all different going to bring us together?”.
2000.
I was sitting in Circular Quay in Sydney Australia waiting for my then girlfriend, now wife, to finish work for the day. Like any park this one had statues. And like any statue these were being defiled by pigeons. I remember thinking the most random thing. Pigeons are the same everywhere.
Once again the idea if we could all focus on what makes us similar we could begin to accept the relatively minor differences came to mind.
2019 Part 1.
I was in Venice Italy, wandering the alleyways to escape the crowds. All over I started seeing posters for an upcoming event with a theme along the line of “diversity equals peace”. That is when I again had the random thought.
You know what there are a lot of in Venice? Statues. You know what are defiling those statues? Pigeons. Exactly like those I’ve seen in New York City, Hyderabad, Sydney, Salzburg, and Quito. Basically every place I’ve ever been. Again I thought about the concept of bringing people together by using a different approach.
2019 Part 2.
Vancouver Canada. I walk off the plane and the first thing I see is HSBC advertising all over the jetway. No harm in that right? Then I read the first ad which, by the way, has a pigeon in it. The only words on the ad were “Difference. The only thing we have in common.”
By now you get why this disappointed me. Difference is just about at the bottom of the list of the things we all have in common.
The How.
Let’s start simply, with food. Food holds a special place in all our hearts from traditional celebratory foods to ceremonial foods to comfort foods. There is no better way to bond and learn about others than through their food.
If you agree that it is not our differences but our similarities we need to build upon, please share your favorite family recipe and the story of that recipe with the world. Share Now.
Next, head over to Instagram and post a picture you love of a pigeon or flock of pigeons to show that life is very much the same the world over. Don’t forget to @ and # pigeons_of_the_world_unite.