Jacob Hembrom SJ
It is rightly said that ‘variety is the spice of life’. We are all privileged that we are born in particular cultures each of which is unique and has rich traditions, heritage and legacy. We should be proud of who we are and what our identity is.
Our Creator is so imaginative that he made every individual so unique that none resembles the other. He is a magnificent artist. We should cherish and celebrate this diversity that we have. As we commemorate the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, we are invited to reflect on it objectively and imaginatively.
Every culture has its own distinctive identity. It also needs space to grow and develop. Acknowledgement of this cultural diversity offers us an opportunity to learn good values from other cultures and, thus, it enables us to live in harmony. This diversity can be seen as a valuable means to fight against poverty, social injustices, gender discrimination etc. This is possible only when we learn to accommodate and correlate with different cultures.
Today we are in a typical socio-political scenario where every culture is trying to dominate over the other. People seem to attempt to prove that one is more modern and developed than the other. Every culture is asserting its identity individually. We realize that there are many socio-political factors which, for selfish needs, tear us apart.
It is time to see our cultural diversity as a stimulator of creativity. Investing in this creativity can transform our societies. It is our responsibilities to develop education and intercultural skills in young people to sustain the diversity of our world and to learn to live together in the diversity of our languages, cultures and religions to bring about change.