Diversity — now that is a word that is used so often that sometimes when spoken its meaning becomes an ineffective language tool and at times, alters the purpose of using such a strong and powerful term.

Now I applaud the Federal Way Mirror in wanting to include such a positive word in their paper each month but the question is, what does diversity mean to you? Does anyone really know what diversity is? What does it mean to create a diverse workplace? What does someone mean when they state that they live in a diverse neighborhood?

Before I delve into what I believe diversity to be, I’d like to take you back to my childhood neighborhood, the community that developed what we can call my culture. I grew up in Seattle, four blocks away from Garfield High School in the heart of what is known as the Central District. Back in the 1960s, even in that area, Filipinos like myself were not well known as the other Asian races of Chinese and Japanese that lived, worked and thrived in the predominantly African-American neighborhood. I considered myself a minority within a minority.

Even though I am what is considered an American-born Filipino, my parents taught me to never forget who I am, where I came from and to embrace my heritage and culture.

I read somewhere that culture is a shared learned behavior. Well if it is, then I shared a lot of learned behavior while growing up. I learned the behavior of others around me but I also shared my homegrown behavior with them.

All these different behaviors made me stronger as a person. Growing up in the Central District made me appreciate what others have to offer in regards to ethnic and cultural diversity.

Oh, there’s that word again, diversity. Was that word even around back then?

Diversity wasn’t popular until the 1980s when many U.S. Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies and nonprofit organizations started practicing what they called at the time “diversity work.”

These companies wanted to compete in the world markets and needed to show other countries that they could fit in and do business.

How does Federal Way embrace diversity? Up to one-third of the city’s residents are Asian-American, African-American, and Hispanic-American and at least 130 languages are spoken in the Federal Way school district.

Compared to Seattle’s Central District in the 1960s and according to the current neighborhood profile of Federal Way’s “City Center,” 22.8 percent of the center’s residents mostly identify their ethnicity as Mexican with 33.6 percent of the residents of this neighborhood identifying that they were born in another country.

Because of their understanding of the city’s “melting pot,” in 1993 our city’s leaders created the city of Federal Way Diversity Commission.

The commission was created with the purpose to advise the City Council and city staff on policy matters to ensure all members of the community have input when it comes to reviewing and establishing the city’s vision of a diverse community.

The commission consists of nine members who are appointed by the City Council every three years.

Over the years, the Diversity Commission has accomplished many projects and continues to serve the community in many ways.

The commission is mainly known as the prime sponsor for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration each year, partnering with different local high schools in bringing a community festival of weekend activities during the Martin Luther King holiday to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy and teachings of encouraging peace and harmony among the city’s communities to celebrate diversity.

There it is again, diversity. Did Dr. King know at the time that eventually his teachings and writings would culminate into this one powerful word that many of us use today in our everyday language? If alive today would he, himself, be utilizing this word in his everyday conversations?

I did state earlier that I would give you my definition of the word diversity.

Words like inclusiveness, differences, variety, mixing of cultures, understanding and tolerance of other’s heritage and background, and other finely-thought-of language can be included but does that really define the meaning of diversity?

Imparting my belief may not influence yours. With the month of January, comes another passing day of Dr. King’s birthday. Keeping this day in mind, what does the word diversity really mean to you?

That determination is yours. I’ll reserve my definition until a later time.

Gregory Baruso has lived in Federal Way for 15 years and has been a member of the city of Federal Way’s Diversity Commission for eight years and is currently serving as chair. He belongs to many state and local civic organizations, always looking for ways to help out his community.