Have you ever asked yourself what your top three values are? Along with self-development and independence, my most important value is diversity.
Diversity brings colors to life.
I expressed my core value on a piece of cloth with watercolour.
In Vietnamese, we have a saying: “Go outside one day, learn a bunch of wisdom”. The meaning of this proverb is if you avoid getting out of your comfort zone to see the world, you will never know how much potential it can give you by meeting new people, exploring differences, and facing challenges.
Diversity broadens my knowledge as well as mindset. As I get the opportunity to know different people from mixed backgrounds by stepping out of my country and going abroad, my knowledge bag gets heavier and more qualified day by day. The simple daily fact that not everyone knows how to use chopsticks, not all people wear sandals with socks, in some countries people drive on the left, makes me accept that I can’t expect everyone to have the same opinions as me. So I taste new food, learn new languages, observe and adopt new behaviours, listen to new points of view every time I get to know a foreign person. Every person contributes something to my life, regardless of the impact they create.
Diversity helps me to understand that differences are crucial. The world to me would turn colorless and monotonous if there wasn’t diversity. Creativity comes along with diversity. The difference becomes the theme of lots of my daily discussions, entries, and ideas. Diversity forces me to adapt to other cultures. Being your true self is the best feeling people can have while adapting to other cultures when being out of the country plays an inevitable role if a person wants to integrate and develop in another society.
Diversity makes me a respectful and tolerant person. Now, as I am used to facing different cultures, I accept the differences and try to put myself in other perspectives. Some behaviours that we might consider insulting are just normal for another culture. The multicultural environment got me to understand and show respect to what other cultures believe and follow without judgment. When an unpleasant situation happens, I avoid judging immediately and try to put myself in another’s position and ask such questions: “What would I have done if I were the person in that situation?”, “Would I also react that way?”.
Diversity drives my creativity. I’m working voluntarily for a youth organization, where I spend a lot of my time working with an international team. Interacting with different cultures brings me lots of ideas when it comes to brainstorming, discussing, or working together. The amount of inspiration is endless since each individual experiences various things and analyses one matter from their perspectives.
And with diversity as one of my core values, I become a world citizen. Acknowledged that I am also a small particle contributing to a big colorful picture, apart from encouraging other people to show their cultures, I actively and confidently represent my culture to the world. Diversity gives me the chance to become an ambassador for my country.