Diversity & Equality

Diversity and equality. You might think what does one have to do with the other, they’re very different and have no relation. Well, indeed they are two very opposite issues yet very connected. They are two issues that have a direct correlation. For the issue of diversity in a society and the acceptance of diversity, whether it’s religiously or racially or culturally, lead to the equality of those differences, to everyone having the right to be equal.

I, as an immigrant, was born and raised in a country different than America. Yet, fortunately I had a similar diverse mentality that Americans claim to have which helped in my adaptation within the people of this country. I come from Lebanon, where it is a country known for its variation of everything. Of its people, their traditions, or of the seasons. Everything about Lebanon represents diversity and equality. Just as its four different seasons which each takes up an equal time of the year. That represents Lebanon.

There are people from all the economical and social levels. There are the very wealthy, the very poor, or simply the average income person. Lebanon is an arab country true, but, it is not one like Saudi Arabia where you would just have muslims within that country. Lebanon has people of all religions. There are different sects of muslims such as those known as shia and others as sunni. There are also the different sects of christians such as catholics, orthodox, and roome. Moreover, there are druze and there are atheists.

Other than different religions there are the multiple different nationalities of people from all over the world. There are armenians, palestinians, syrians, kurds, russians and ukrainians who actually live within the lebanese. Other than that, since Lebanon is known for its touristic sites, tourists from all over the world visit. There are also a lot of people of diverse sexual orientations and diverse ethnicities.

Therefore, basically, I come from a place where there is diversity of everyone and everything. There are people from all religions, colors, nationalities, income, and economical or social level within society. I was raised upon the open-minded mentality, upon the fact that everyone is equal. Just like America. The country known to be one of the most diverse countries in the world, “the land of immigrants”. Therefore, coming to the U.S was a pretty easy move to do since it’s also a place of diversity and equality. the promise, the American Creed.

Yet, in both those countries, other than the fact of the presence of diversity, and the promise of equality, people always tend to spark a fire up when they get defensive on their own beliefs. I’m not necessarily saying that the promise isn’t reality, it’s just that there are open-minded people, yet there will always be the presence of those that are biased. The ones that cause the problem, fights, and even wars within the country. The slightest thing they might hear from the opposing side would cause them to switch from offense mode to defense, and that is were all the fights and misconceptions are born and nurtured. 

Let’s remember the major conflicts that had happened in America which basically fight the promise of America about equality and freedom. Just as the 9/11 incident for instance or the event that took place at the LGBT nightclub where people were shot solely because of their sexual orientation.

A conflict that is constantly fired up in the conflicts between people from opposing views, politically and religiously. There had been several civil wars within the years, there was one that occurred in 1975 between muslims and christians and another that occurred in 2006 between the two sects of muslims, the shia and sunni. Imagine this, even those of the same religion are stupid and naive enough to create arguments of very juvenile issues that shouldn’t even cause those problems.

Speaking of the 2006 Civil War, that was an incident I can personally tell you about since I, myself, was present during that horrific time. What makes it even worse was that I was young, a little young, I was five years old. Having a child so young be in a situation like that would certainly have the memory embedded in mind, with no chance of forgetting any of the events during such a time and anything would be heightened due to the child’s wild imagination. That was me. The petrifying blows of the bombs still play in my mind every time the issue of war comes up. The cries of mothers over the deaths of their innocent children who had nothing to do with their fights remind us of the cruelty and childishness of those causing those losses. The unnecessary deaths of the thousands of people remind us of the naiveness of people for them not minding killing for their own belief. They remind us of the fact that indeed we were born and raised in a society open to change and differences, so why fight over our basic rules and ideals of life. Those people claim to be religious, since their war was based on different religious beliefs, yet they were still fine with taking the life of someone with the blink of an eye.

This incident has made me the person I am today. It helped me realize the importance of accepting others no matter what they believe in. It had helped me not judge a person no matter who they are, what skin color they have, what they believe in, their likes and dislikes, and so on. It has made me noticed that we are now in the year 2018 where the fights over such issues should have been vanished by now. 

We have gone such a long way and evolved so much, we have seen a lot and been through a lot. What might be the reason as to the presence of prejudice to a specific side? Is it really worth the fights and hatred? Shouldn't we have evolved to the point of accepting others no matter what they believe in or where they come from. "It doesn't matter where you come from is matters where you're going," stated in The American Creed. The fact of presence of the different kinds of a specific classifications such as religion or color shouldn't define who one is, instead their presence in the same society helps build a more diverse and understanding community. This is my American Creed.