How to Celebrate Cultural Diversity With Respect

Social and Cultural Diversity

When we recognize social and cultural diversity, we respect the fact that our world is made up of many different peoples from many different places. They come dissimilar backgrounds, cultures, religious and political beliefs, ideas about race and ethnicity, ideas about sex and sexuality. In order for our society to exist multiculturally it is essential that we respect one another's culture and we do that by recognize the reality of our own cultural diversity.

Definition of Cultural Diversity

Cultural diversity can be defined as a variety of cultural/ethnic groups within a community or nation. It can also be defined as the respect that a single society shows to each of its various cultures within that society. Thus, if a society is said to be culturally diverse it is implied that it is cognizant of and respectful towards all of its ethnicities and cultures within its community, large or small.

Main Body

Cultural diversity is an important aspect of any society like ours because there are both large and small groups of people within it who come from different places and have different beliefs. When people are mindful of one another, they can show courtesy and respect rather suspicion and feelings of hatred or intolerance. At root, most people believe in the same Golden Rule and therefore this rule can be used to bring people together, even if their cultures are different.

But eliminating cultural diversity should not be the aim. Socially, we have become a diverse society and should reflect that in our social discourse. Plus, without social diversity we would not be truly reflective of the world as a whole. Within our society are many peoples and to say that it is only one race or one ethnicity or one religion would be to reflect something that is not true.

When we celebrate cultural diversity it means that we take time to learn about other cultures and to try to understand them without judging them or looking down on them. For instance, we could learn more about Indian culture and eat Indian food, or we could learn more about Native Americans and view American history from their perspective for a change. Or we could learn about German culture and how their society developed over the years. Or we could learn about Greek peoples and what their experiences have been like from the time of Socrates to now.

In fact, even nature recognizes the importance of diversity. For example, there is biodiversity which helps make ecosystems thrive and keep things in harmony. Just imagine what would happen if the world were run by one ethnicity and group of religious people who happened to bent on annihilating or subjugating all other groups of people and races. It would be terrible.