Introduction
I believe that diversity is an essential element, which allows humans to exist together. Therefore, I accept as true that it is necessary for people to recognize and appreciate diversity in ideas, culture, and traditions among others (Griggs, 1995). The idea that we are different is what gives us the ability to express who we are freely. Diversity gives us a desire to connect to other people who are different from us. Therefore, for me diversity is not a barrier to forming strong connections with the outside world, but it is the tool to reach out further and explore the world around me (Bucher, 2010). Diversity gives humans the freedom to choose what they would like to identify with. Therefore, it is correct to say that without diversity there is no freedom.
Discussion
From one’s own perspective, I believe that our diversity is what defines who we are (it gives us an identity). Since we cannot run away from our differences, we as humans should learn to recognize and appreciate our diversity (Parillo, 2011). Another important aspect to note is that we draw our strengths from diversity in ideas, knowledge, and beliefs. How would we be curious about how other people lives if there was no cultural, ethnic, and racial difference? Obviously, our individual differences are our collective power. Therefore, our divergence is what brings us together; from here, we get our strengths from our diversity (Griggs, 1995). Clearly, people who are different in culture, race, and ethnic groups have different opinions and ideas, which can be useful when brought together. Culture and race shape the way we think and the way we do things because it has a considerable influence on who we are. Therefore, the moment we learn to appreciate other people who are different from us, immediately, we begin to understand humanity because their cultural, ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds shape our worldview (Griggs, 1995).
For many years, I have always looked at people of different racial and ethnic groups from a negative perspective (Bucher, 2010). However, during the study of this course, I found myself challenged to accept change by interacting with people from different ethnic, racial, and cultural groups in an attempt to understand them better. I realized that some of the most common stereotypes are based on our weaknesses and not the external group. Everyone has his or her own unique aspects that are valuable to the society if used correctly. Therefore, I made a decision to give all people a chance and interact with them at their own level, bearing in mind that no culture or race is superior to the other (Parillo, 2011). Diversity has been used as a tool to block people out and discriminate against them. We do this because we fear their strength in comparison to our weaknesses. The ability to believe in all people without looking down on them helps in building strong and healthy relationships in the society. We can only believe in people if we value them and consider them as worthy when we compare them to our own image (Griggs, 1995).
During the class plunge program, I decided to interact with Africans, a group that I had not had an opportunity to interact with previously. During this time, I was excited and scared because I had formed a negative opinion about people from different cultures and race. During my childhood, I met and interacted with people from different backgrounds, but I did not have a chance to interact with most of them on a personal level. Therefore, the plunge program presented me a good opportunity to sample other people’s cultures. To explore a different culture, I choose to visit an African restaurant over the weekend (during my free time) to sample out their food and have amble time to share in the African culture. The restaurant that I visited is popularly referred as African dishes. Africans from East Africa who speak Swahili (which is their first language) manage this restaurant that I visited. I spend at least three hours eating and having conversations with random people who visited the restaurant. I noticed that most people were Africans with a mixture of other races. Other than talking to customers, I had an opportunity to prepare my own food the African way. In addition, I talked to the hosts as they explained and taught me a few tips on how to prepare most African dishes. Although my hosts were using Swahili words at some point, I learned a lot.
I must admit the three hours proved worthwhile because I had a wonderful time learning a different culture. My view about Africans as primitive and unfriendly people was totally changed from that day. From this experience, I learned that every culture has its best and worst sides, which we cannot discover if we do not interact with other people.
How knowledge of one’s own philosophy helps me to communicate effectively
Communication as a process begins when we learn to trust and believe in other people with their differences. Therefore, the foundation of effective communication in a multicultural society begins with self-awareness. Once we know who has shaped us, we begin to see our strengths and weaknesses, which eventually bring us close to other people. Knowledge about personal philosophy is the root of our growth and contribution to other people’s lives. For us to understand other people we must become conscious of our history and culture (Griggs, 1995). We must come to terms with our values, motives, skills, talents, and abilities. This is the only way that we can understand our prejudices and stereotypes based on our cultural orientation (Bucher, 2010). It is only then that we can remove barriers that prevent us from having good relationships with people who are different from us. Once we understand how culture influences our worldview, it becomes easy to open ourselves to diversity. The stereotypes and attitudes about people from different ethnic and racial groups make us to think that everyone who is different from us is abnormal while we are the normal ones (Reynolds and Valentine, 2004). However, when we start looking at diversity as a source of strength and not weakness, we learn to love and appreciate different people.
Understanding, respecting the diversity of individual gifts, and identifying areas of commonality in views, beliefs, attitudes, values, and expectations are the most critical stages of forming strong and healthy relationships with others (Bucher, 2010). When we interact freely, communication becomes easy because we build trust and respect which expels fear from our cultural orientation. Communication becomes easy when we put our cultural and ethnic differences aside and agree to find a common ground to interact with each other (Reynolds and Valentine, 2004).
Conclusion
In the current society, immigration is taking place every day making it difficult for people to live in a place where there is no cultural diversity. As such, cultural, ethnic, and racial differences are things that we cannot be able to run away from. Therefore, cultural diversity has become our everyday reality that we must face and try to appreciate. I believe that valuing diversity is the first step in self-awareness, which helps us to form effective relationships in the society. This is because diversity is an important aspect, which allows humans to exist together. Unless we understand our personality, beliefs and what has shaped our thoughts and ideas, we will never learn to understand and trust other people. This is because self-awareness gives us the freedom to interact without fear (Reynolds and Valentine, 2004). Self-knowledge allows me to know, understand, and value the diversity of others so that I can build trust with them. By trusting our abilities, we gain necessary skills needed to communicate effectively and resolve common problems; this allows us relate more easily with others, and eventually, have a mutual benefit (Reynolds and Valentine, 2004). Collectively investing in a relationship with me and improving the way I relate with others are important insurance policies to cover for lost opportunities (Bucher, 2010). Therefore, we expand our chances of developing by investing in other people’s difference through creating a strong network of different perspectives and strengths. The most important thing is for people to recognize and appreciate diversity in ideas, culture, and traditions among other valuables aspects.
Reference List
Bucher, R., D. (2010). Diversity Consciousness: Opening our minds to people, cultures, and opportunities. (3rd edn.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, Prentice Hall.
Griggs, L. B. (1995). Valuing Relationship: The Heart of Valuing Diversity. In L. B.
Griggs & L. L. Louw (Eds.), Valuing Diversity: New Tools for a New Reality. McGraw Hill, Inc: New York.
Parillo, V. (2011). Strangers to these shores: Race and ethnic relations in the United States. (10 edn.). Boston, M. A: Pearson.
Reynolds, S., & Valentine, D., 2004. Guide to Cross-Cultural Communication. (2nd edn.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.