February is the month of love and compassion. We set aside a special day for couples to show their love to each other, but what if you are single or newly divorced? You can still celebrate the day of love with your friends or children.
To me the month of February means more than just one day of celebrating love and compassion. It’s about being kind to each other and understanding other people’s differences. Not everyone is going to have the same view point that you do and that is what makes us all special. Its call diversity. Could you imagine if we were all the same? How boring would that be?
We have diversity within our own families. Just think about your parents for a moment. Your mother was raised in a certain culture and so was your father. The two of them met and had you. Each parent had their own idea and pass it down to you. As you grew, these two different cultures were blended into one. The same is true with other families, because each family practices and adopts beliefs that are important to them. Some of these cultural diversities could be religion, political preferences, sports teams, hobbies, beliefs, behaviors, language, and work ethics.
The point is to practice kindness and understanding with others who are different than you. Diversity is only the beginning, not the end goal. It is about truly listening and respecting all people regards of their status. It’s about taking the dislike and disagreement and changing it to patience’s, compassion and understanding.
This can start with each one of us. We can each lead the way to changing our diverse culture into one of respect, understanding and kindness. Even in the face of intolerance, discrimination and violence, we must not forget to spread the word about the importance of diversity and to respond to that violence with a love and a celebration of our differences.
By Jolen Philbrook
