Diversity Is the Flavor of the Day

Have you ever heard the saying "No two are the same"? Odds are that you have, but it was about some stupid little subject like rocks, or snowflakes. However, this statement can be held true to life just the same. Nowhere in the world has exactly the same culture. Some might be close, but there will always be differences. These differences are vastly apparent between your own culture and cultures completely foreign to you. This is how I felt when listening to a monk from Tibet talk about art.

Upon listening to his "lecture," many things were going through my mind. First of all, "I wish I could understand him." (haha) But that's beside the point. I was completely baffled by the completely different view of life that he (and I'm sure the other monks do as well) has than mine. Everything in life can be related to simple things such as negative emotions (like greed) or elements (like earth, fire, water, and wind).

On top of that, I was astonished at how these monks were able to put their view of life into such beautiful works of art. The colors each represented different aspects, as well as the shapes and orientation. The fact that they think that much more in depth about life and the universe than I think about anything was amazing. I couldn't believe how much work these people put into these works of art or how much the art meant to them. And just think, it ends by being completed and thrown into the wind. That is one thing I'll never understand, how they can just throw their intense and insanely hard work away like that.

Sitting through that lecture, I wasn't just thinking about what he was saying, I was thinking about life, my own views, and where I stand. I think that is what is most important about diversity: having a differentiation to look at and experience. They call the United States a "cultural crockpot" because we have so many different cultures around us. I think it's time to start learning more and more about these cultures. In my opinion, it would probably make us all see life a little differently, probably for the better.