Diversity makes us strong. Diversity teaches us acceptance.
Diversity is what makes up Canada.
We have so much room for cultural appreciation, tolerance, and love.
What we don’t have room for is bigotry, racism, hatred, or anything else that pins us against each other. These negative emotions and ideals take up too much room.
I grew up in a small rural community in Ontario. We did not have much diversity. I attended a Catholic school, where everyone had the same look, religion, style, and interests. We all listened to the same music, played the same video games, and watched the same movies.
Our community was strong, but it was lacking.
In college, I moved to a small city. I met people of different skin colour, culture, and interests. I found it wonderful, and I learned so much from these new people.
Without them, I probably would have lived a very sheltered life.
Identity is something everyone can be proud of. Whatever your background is, it has helped shape you to who you are today. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to share our beliefs and differences.
It would be a very boring Canada if we all lived the same, thought the same, and did the same things.
Our Canada is colourful. It’s skin colours, clothing colours, cars, churches, mosques, and landscapes. We have lush rainforests, prairies, endless skies, mountains, and oceans. And, just like our landscape, we have blue jeans, beautiful robes, gold in our scarves, bright beads in our footwear.
It’s what makes us unique, together.
There are some people out there who don’t cherish our uniqueness, and that makes me sad. They are scared their own identity is being threatened, and are blaming the wrong causes.
Their identity is only threatened by negativity that they bring on themselves. With these strong ideals that only their identity matters, they are met with negativity that fuels their disdain.
But, I won’t stand by and let their negativity into my life, our community, and our cultures. The only way to silence them is to continue loving one another, enjoying each other’s company and differences, and ignoring their negativity.
Stand up when you see injustice. Stand up for your fellow human. We are all in this together, and can promote peace and prosperity through positivity.
