Participants came from every region of the United States and included both public and private school teachers, social workers, and medical professionals interested in the work of equity and diversity. In small groups and large seminars, we held conversations that gave us the space to express and hear ideas and experiences from people quite different from us. I also met the challenge of planning an effective SEED seminar and presenting it to the crowd on the last day of our training. 

 

As we carry our training home to share in local seminars, the SEED program provides leaders with ongoing support and tools that so we can give voice to the diverse members of our own organizations. It teaches us how to hear one another with empathy and open-mindedness and to support each other through growth that can sometimes be uncomfortable. But what would inspire a person to dive into a personal and professional commitment like SEED? I can only tell you how I got there. 

 

It began in 2012, when a dear friend came out to me as lesbian, and I was astonished. While I considered myself an ally to the LGBTQ+ community, I had somehow been blind to the painful, frightening, and lonely process this beautiful woman had been living right in front of me. She had risked every relationship that mattered to her – defying culture, religion, and family to become her fullest self. She had blossomed into something stronger and more whole, but I had missed the honor of supporting her through that process because I just hadn’t seen it happening. I had never questioned or even wondered about her sexual preference for a simple reason: straightness was “normal” to me, so I projected it onto my friend. This unintentional blindness is the very definition of privilege. 

 

It was straight privilege I faced in this moment, but I quickly understood what it implied about many types of privilege I inhabit: white, educational, and socio-economic. I knew without a doubt that I had much to learn, but I had no idea how to go about learning it. Like implicit bias, privilege is inherent and automatic, driving perception and behavior in good people like me in ways I wouldn’t want, but can’t always identify. I knew I didn’t want privilege to skew my view of the people around me. But I also knew I couldn’t remove it without help any more than I could remove a tumor from myself. On the advice of my smartest colleague, I joined SEED. 

 

In the five years since then, SEED has offered me much more than its official description belies. SEED gives voice to the experiences of so many people, and it teaches us how to hear each other with empathy and open-mindedness. SEED empowers us to hold crucial conversations and, especially when continued from year to year, it is profoundly transformational. It peels back those layers of privilege like the layers of an onion, and it sometimes seems like they may never keep coming. But it gives us hope for a kinder world, tools to build that world, and joyful circles of friendship within our communities. 

 

The work of SEED begins in its monthly local seminars, but it unfolds day and night as insights and revelations keep emerging. SEED isn’t easy work, and it can be uncomfortable, but it leads to incredible changes in its members and our communities.