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Multiculturalism

Why it's important

By John Ames BirchPublished 7 years ago 3 min read
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Multiculturalism, a word so many of us know but one so many of us still do not fully understand. To me, it's the promise of liberty, freedom for all men and women united under the flag of our species. Here in the western world, it is called many names, the true north strong and free, the American dream, or really just a better life, a fresh start for weary travelers seeking a fresh start.

We all just want what's best for our friends and family and whom we deem to be our people. No matter your color, creed, gender, orientation, political ideals or religion we are all of us Human. Over the years we branched out to different parts of the globe and developed differing degrees of tans and adopted new traditions. These transitions formed into the foundation or the culture of that specific part of Humanity.

We are a people with many thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and religions and we all have so much to offer each other. Each and every single one of us is an important part of the continuing tapestry of Humankind. When one of us fails to realize our contribution or gift that picture of humanity is diminished. We are all of us important parts of the continuing tapestry of Humankind and an attack against one of us, be it physical, emotional, or verbal, is an attack on us all.

Lately, we have forgotten about that dream of liberty and freedom for all out of fear, misunderstanding, or contempt. This is not the way that we will evolve as a species, it will end us. We all have different viewpoints and thoughts and freedom of speech is important for civil discussions to allow for the evolution of thought and the collective culture of all Humanity. There is no freedom to hate or to use your fear or misunderstanding to try and take away the rights of another group of people. When you use these reasons to take away one people's rights you make it easier for your rights to one day be lost.

It's never been about the front of the bus, who you can love, or the glass ceiling; it is the collective fight for all of us. We need to evolve as a species for if we do not we will cease to be, we each of us have a right and a responsibility to ensure we choose the right direction for our society. Each viewpoint needs to be heard but calmly and dispassionately. The problem with today's society is that we all feel that we must protect our viewpoints and stand for what we believe and what imaginary borders on a map define "our people" and we shout as loud as we can to drown out all dissent to our opinion.

The fact is that it's not your people or my people, we are all one people and we need to realize this for the only way that we will continue to exist as a people is if we learn to co-exist. Multiculturalism is important for it allows us to see and hear different viewpoints and fosters a greater understanding of the collective soul of our human unity, our humanity. We need to respect each other and try to engender understanding about who we are, where we come from and what we have to say. This is how a people evolve by using calm and rational arguments and not by shouting at each other through a mask of hate or a keyboard for when your voice bleeds hate the violence of your words drowns out your message.

We need to embrace multiculturalism and learn to listen, most of us listen with the intent to respond and fail to listen to understand. We need to stand for each other whenever or wherever we can for if we don't stand for the dream of liberty and freedom for all it will remain a dream and none of us will be free. "You either create a world for everyone or else you will end up in a world fit for no one."

Love can change the world.

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About the Creator

John Ames Birch

Hello all I’m just an everyday person taking a introspective look at myself and the world. Trying to help anywhere and everywhere I can.

“You either create a world for everyone or else you will end up in a world fit for no one”

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