When I was a kid, it didn’t take much to make me happy.  Like for instance, the Kelloggs Variety Pack of cereal.  Little packages of cereal, where I could choose Frosted Flakes one morning and Raisin Bran the next.  It wasn’t really very economical as it was cheaper to buy the big boxes, but once in a while, mom would get the variety pack.  Now, I didn’t like everything in the variety pack so it was a good thing that my brother usually liked what I didn’t.  He didn’t give me a hard time for not liking everything and I didn’t give him a hard time.  We weren’t afraid of the things we weren’t crazy about, it was more about personal taste or what was important to us. 

Like butterflies.  Did you know that there are 40,000 types of butterflies?  Talk about variety!  They’re all wonderful, but there are some that to me are more beautiful than others.  I don’t hate the other butterflies and I’m not afraid of the them, so I don’t have lepidopterophobia, There are some people who just don’t like butterflies, and that’s fine.  Not everyone has to like them, but we can at least all appreciate and respect them. 

Like snakes.  There are so many different kinds of snakes.  Poisonous and non poisonous.  Different colors, different sizes.  I definitely have ophidiophobia.  Do I hate them?  Yes, I feel like I do, but as I’ve been told, it’s because I don’t know enough about them and don’t understand them.  I don’t see the benefit of having these in the ecosystem because frankly, they freak me out and I can’t get past the freaking.  I don’t have a phobia because I hate them, it’s because I don’t understand them and frankly don’t want to.  Fear is a strong emotion that drives us to doing and saying things about animals, or reptiles or….people that we might not do if we took the time to get to know them.  Again, I still may not agree with them, but I don’t have to agree with someone to love them anyway. 

Now is it a good thing to have variety in all things?  You betcha!  Variety is the spice of life, as they say. In my classroom I try to expose my students to a variety of genres of music.  How else are they going to make an intelligent choice of what they like or don’t like and be able to explain why?  I always make it a point in my class to let kids know it’s ok to like or dislike a certain style or genre of music.  Not all music is for everyone.  Sometimes a student will say out loud, “I don’t like music” in the middle of class and some sweet child, afraid that this other student has hurt my feelings will say to them, “don’t say that – it’s not nice!”.  My students don’t always understand that it’s ok to speak their truth in my classroom, as long they speak it kindly.  While I may appreciate different genres of music, even I don’t like everything, and that’s ok.

Variety is challenging – It challenges us to examine things in more detail and perhaps consider things you never considered before.  And while it’s never ok to hate,  it’s ok to have personal preferences.  Hate isn’t necessarily disagreement and disagreement isn’t necessarily hate.  They are two completely different things, although many people seem to lump them together anymore.  To assume someone hates just because they don’t agree with something is pretty narrow minded. Humans are more complicated than that. It’s something I explain to my kids in my music classes.  We’re going to listen to all kinds of music, some they’re going to like and some they’re not going to like and that’s ok.  Having variety means there’s something for everyone and as I tell my kids, you like what you like and nobody can tell you what you should like or dislike.  Although I do tend to question my kids who listen to Schoenberg and like it….  Just kidding.  Maybe.

Public schools are a case study in variety; a variety of abilities, gifts, behaviors, cultures, ages, experiences, etc.  You get my point.  In a typical class I have a veritable smorgasbord of children and it’s an opportunity for me and my students to get to know and understand what each person is all about.  They learn by playing and interacting, talking at lunch and recess. While you may have kids who are similar, no two are alike.  Do I like some more than others?  To be honest, yes I do.  Again, not everyone likes everything. I think it’s human nature.  However, I can LOVE all of these children because love isn’t just something you feel, it’s something you DO.  I have learned to care about each child and know it’s my job to take each child and help them to grow to be the best person they can be. It’s also about teaching kids not to be afraid of or hate the variety that is just a part of life. A life that’s just one great big variety pack.