Cultural Diversity
I’ve always been the minority or a group that has not been prioritised as much. Back home in India, my ethnic group of Tamils had to fight to cement a status for themselves as a sizeable cultural group. When we moved to Singapore, Tamils were and still are the minority group. I have talked a little bit before about my experiences in being the minority before.
As a kid who was bullied, I couldn’t understand what was so bad or funny about my ethnicity and my culture that fellow kids had to mock it. As a teenager who had to learn about the civil war in Sri Lanka, I was horrified to my very core learning about the genocide committed against my fellow Tamils. As an adult, I still can’t stomach the protests and acts of terrorism that occur on a daily basis because of differences.
“Why is it so difficult for us to just get along?” is all I kept, and still keep wondering about. At some point, I wondered if it would have been easier if we were all of the same religion and had the same lifestyle and spoke the language. Then I realised that was too dull and boring and in fact, could be detrimental. Let me explain.
The concept of diversity was introduced to me in school. In Singapore, we learn about the different community’s practices during its upcoming holiday. So one day in school, we were learning about the Chinese culture and they had a fun little play with the different Gods. This is when I heard about the Monkey God. Up til now, my parents had not introduced religion to me, not even Hinduism that they were both actively practicing. I went home and animatedly shared about what I had learned and how I thought it was so cool that there was a Monkey God with my parents. Maybe it was out of concern that I might negate my identity, or maybe they found this the perfect segue to introduce me to religion, my parents agreed with me that it was pretty cool that Chinese mythologies feature a Monkey God and introduced me to Hanuman, the Monkey God in Hinduism. And thereby Hinduism in itself. Being the avid reader I was my dad got me a book and soon, I started devouring books on Hinduism. This happened in tandem with the books I was reading about ancient civilisations, the different assembly programs we had in school about the different cultural practices and the social studies classes we had. The more you start to learn about such things, the more you inevitably wander into the world of cultural dominance, wars and ethnocentrism. Like many kids who are indifferent to the differences adults pay attention to, all my little mind could do was find the similarities and wonder “Wait, why are people even fighting based on culture?”
Culture is the term I have used here to collectively lump together a bunch of things that humans differ on – religion, lifestyles, ethnicity, etc. If you are wondering why I did that, let me share what culture means to me. Culture is the quintessential mark of human identity – it teaches people of its group how to think, perceive and interact with the world around them. It gives them structure, a sense of belonging, and comfort that they are among like-minded people in this journey called "life". It’s the foundation upon which one builds the architecture of their life experiences. Whether it’s part of an age-old system where religion, food habits and lifestyle blur and intertwine as one, or whether it’s a casual outlook, everyone is entrenched in some form of culture. That’s why some individuals find it easier to say that they identify with the LGBTQ culture rather than their ethnic background or the culture their family practices. Because they haven’t been able to fit anywhere else.
And that is why I think diversity is necessary as opposed to homogeneity. So that everyone can find a little pocket for themselves to fit in and be part of. So that they don’t feel alone in this world. Humans naturally seek to be a part of something, it’s how we have thrived for so many years, and it’s how we have evolved. Later on, when I was older, my parents told me they had never intended to enforce Hinduism upon me, but then decided that it was important for me to know who I was and where I came from (Tamil culture and Hinduism are pretty heavily intertwined). I believe that’s why culture is important and relevant.
Understanding the culture you belong to gives you an understanding of yourself. But it’s not just enough that we have a variety of cultures and know about the group we belong to. We should learn about the culture of others. Because just like we seek similarities, we also look for the differences in every individual we come across. Evolution and seeing a different tribe as a threat did that to us. And we still continue to do that. If we all had the same culture and religion and language, it’s going to be something else we will be fighting about one day – hair colour maybe. There is always going to be something that’s different. Understanding and showing empathy towards one another’s cultures, and subsequently differences, is the pinnacle of human evolution. The ability to co-exist harmoniously despite our differences – much like the rest of the living things that share this Earth with us. I mean have you ever seen a eucalyptus tree talking down a banana tree?
To be better people, we should think about the positives of other cultures, see the reasonings to their practices and understand how it differs or matches the practices in our own culture. We don’t have to practice it, but it will open our eyes and minds that much more. It refines us that much more. Culture, like religion, shows you how there is more than one way to do the same thing. And that is why it’s something both young impressionable children and adults who have been caught up in one specific way of doing something should be exposed to.
If we only had one culture in this world, what are we even going to travel for? The fact is homogeneity is boring to a certain extent – can you imagine if there was only one kind of flower in the world in the world? Worse yet, one kind of flower in only one colour? And that’s the role diversity plays. It adds colour and beauty to this world, and in some form, shapes our evolution.
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