I tremble before the first sentence of our mission statement. It says, We welcome everyone. Everyone is a very wide net of inclusion. That means every gender, ability, size, color, ethnicity, language, age, level of thinking and feeling – everyone!
The source of this sentence is one of our core values. We are committed to fulfill our Unitarian Universalist first principle which states that everyone has inherent worth and dignity. There are no people we reject based on a physical attribute or ability. Our door is open if you can’t see or hear or walk. Our door is open to people of every background and heritage. Our door is open to three-year-olds who can’t sit still and some 90-year-olds who can barely move.
This vision of inclusion is quite beautiful and inspiring. Yet, on a day-to-day basis, the challenges of actualizing this sentence are significant and sometimes daunting…