I was lucky to be born in a home full of diversity! While Mum is a very down-to-earth, hardworking and positive person, Dad was a big dreamer, good in sciences and the arts but not a practical person. This odd mixture led to five kids with totally different skills and orientations. Coming at the end of the line, with two older sisters and two older brothers, gave me a certain advantage over others because it taught me how to deal with diversity for as long as I can remember. And, as I was born four years after my youngest brother, I was considered the “pet” of the house, where everybody wanted to take care of me and teach me what they loved. The best experience from all of this was the chance I had to mingle freely among them and their friends at home. It was always very busy with young aspiring artists, scientists, politicians and craftsmen.
“I think… if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.” — Leo Tolstoy
One other aspect of my life
that helped nurture my diversity skills was living in London during the 1990s.
After getting married, my husband and I moved there to pursue our graduate
studies. We didn’t have enough money to rent our own flat, so we had to share a
house with a large number of post-graduate students coming from different
countries. I remember students from Italy, Greece, Morocco, Germany, India and
China. Of course, there were some Brits in the group as well. Our connection with all of these students came
naturally because every day we had to share the kitchen, the TV lounge and other
facilities. As a result, my first years in London were full of extraordinary
encounters. I mingled with everyone, made many friends, organized parties, and
learned some great recipes no cook books could have taught me. And, if I close
my eyes for a moment, I can recall our students’ house next to Earls Court underground
station, a very busy multi-ethnic area with beautiful pubs and exotic shops and
restaurants.
Moreover, my colleagues at
the university came from various ethnic groups. So, I spent a good deal of my time
mixing and learning from my housemates and classmates. This made my living and
studying in such a mixed environment, a challenging and invigorating experience.
It kept me on the creative edge and generated the best of me—whether in socializing
or in academic matters.
Finally, toward the end of
my Ph.D. research, my husband was offered a job back home. Thus, I was left
alone in London for 9 months. Although I could have lived by myself, I decided
not to do so and moved to an international student house where my previous
experience of meeting, connecting and learning from people with very different
backgrounds started all over again.
"He who is different from me does not impoverish me—he
enriches me. Our unity is constituted in something higher than ourselves—in Man....
For no man seeks to hear his own echo, or to find his reflection in the
glass." — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Diversity can bring out the
best of everyone if only we knew how to embrace it. However, standing against
it can leave us broken and shattered. No
better example could be given for that than my country which hosts different
religions and sects. The unfortunate result of taking sides, refusing to
communicate and to acknowledge the right of “others” to exist has led to a long
civil war and repetitive conflicts over the years, dismissing any hope for
reconciliation and peaceful co-existence.
From my humble experience in
dealing with diversity, I have learned that the best way to
embrace diversity is to experience it. Move away
from your cozy home and experience totally new places where you see yourself as
part of a minority and deal with this fact in order to survive. If you have not
had the chance to move away in real life, do it virtually by reading liberally;
learn from diverse authors and try to appreciate all the different
threads and colors of life’s tapestry. Whether
in real life or using social media, make a constant effort to meet new people
and embrace various cultures. This is your ticket to cross boundaries,
practice acceptance and learn that differences in people are part of life's
exciting variety.
"I can imagine nothing more terrifying than an
Eternity filled with men who were all the same. The only thing which has made
life bearable…has been the diversity of creatures on the surface of the
globe." — Terence Hanbury White
No comments:
Post a Comment