In our gathering, we honor and celebrate our diversity.
We do not seek a unity that would deny our differences.
We seek rather a deeper union,
a union quilted through choice and intent,
through time and attention, through respect and compassion,
until we recognize that we have become a whole cloth,
made rich and textured and vibrant through our differences.
We are quilted together.
We are bound to one another.
We belong to and with each other.
--Mary Pauluk
