Celebrating Unity Through Diversity

By Jessica Haley, Duchesne Elementary School 

	I believe it is possible to find unity in a multi-culture society. In my essay, I will tell you all my reasons why. 

	I know it is possible to find unity in a multi-culture society. I know because I see it everyday. I see it at school. At school there are a lot of different cultures. There are a lot of different religions, too. But we don't care. We accept each other despite our differences. The people at my school work together to do school projects. The teachers work hard together so that we can learn.

	A lot of people in a multi-culture society think it's absolutely stupid to not like someone because they're different. I mean, we are all the same human beings who share this earth.

	In many ways the U.S. Army is like our community. Everybody comes together to work hard. Without effort, neither the army nor our communities can make a big difference in the world. There is also cooperation. In the army, without cooperation, how can anything get done?  It's the same with our community. The U.S. Army is like a family. They care for each other, like a band of people together as one. So is our community.

	 How do military personnel unify under the same command regardless of race? They think of each other. They know that they need to love one another and look out for each other. They all know it doesn't matter what race you are. When you see the news, do you see just Caucasian people? Just African-American? No you see African-American, Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American people. And all of these people work and live together, as one, in one country.

	I think what bonds the U.S. together is all that we've been through together as a country.  When September 11th happened, everybody suffered.  But we worked hard together to rebuild our lives.  The day of the attack - and still today - everybody came to work with each other.  Everybody came together as volunteers to clean up, take care of others, collect money for victims' families, and just for support.  When September 11th happened, it not only made us very sad, it made us all stronger.  And it's not only September 11th, it's everything else that we go through.  We always stick together.  

	One time, my mom took me to a Greek Festival.  At the festival, there was Greek food, Greek jewelry, Greek music, Greek dance, and most importantly Greek people.  But not just Greek people came to the festival.  I saw all kinds of people of different cultures.  Everybody got to learn a little about a different culture.  And everyone got along and had a great time.  It was really cool.

	There are many weaknesses in a multi-culture society, but there are also a lot of strengths.  One weakness is fear.  Sometimes when people don't understand other's differences, they get scared.  Then they start to be hateful towards those they don't understand.  A strength is when we are educated about other cultures.  When we have a better understanding of people, we are less afraid.  Without other races and cultures, do you know how boring the world would be?  Without a multi-culture society, we wouldn't be able to unify as we would if it was just our own culture and that was it.

	It is all our responsibility to embrace other cultures.  We need to do this so we can learn about others.  If no one does anything about embracing other cultures, then how will we learn about others?  We need everybody's help.  Together, we can learn to accept others for who they are, otherwise we might miss out on something really great.  It is my hope that one day everybody will love one another.