If I told a hunter-gatherer of the Sahara from 10,000 years ago that they would form societies and towns of over 300 people, they would’ve gawked at because what they’d known their entire lives is how to live as small, nomadic tribes no bigger than 50. If I had told the Ancient Egyptians that a quarter of the future world population, over 450 million people, would be ruled by the British Empire, they would’ve dismissed it as the ramblings of a madwoman. Similarly, if I told a 16-year-old girl of Industrial Britain that in a few hundred years, the entire globe would lie in the palm of her hand, she wouldn’t have given it a second thought. Her world comprises of her home, her village, and her nation. But here we are today, where our world truly encompasses the entire world.
A boy from Manhattan, New York could boot up his laptop and speak to his friend from Malaysia. A girl from Egypt could ask for homework help online, the problem which would be solved by a math teacher in Luxembourg. As I am typing this, the power of the entire world lies beneath my fingertips. And with such great power comes great responsibility, as Theodore Roosevelt famously said.
With such broadened horizons, it’s diversity and inclusion are of more importance than ever before. It has become frighteningly simple to ostracize and victimize groups of people and a trip to Twitter will only further my point. With technology evolving at breakneck speed, there are people everywhere who are fighting this forced togetherness with waves of hate and intolerance. And in a sense, it is only to be expected, for all our worlds consist of two categories- “Us” and “Them.” “Us” has similar ideologies, has similar looks. But more than that, Us is a community. Similar things make Us laugh, similar things make Us cry, and interacting with Them feels like a puzzle piece that just doesn’t fit because no matter how hard we try, Us will not be Them and They will not be Us.
It is not an easy transition, and I myself experienced it first hand when I moved from India to USA in 2019 after 6 long years. I am not like them. They are not like me. Interacting with my new friends from my new school 13 thousand kilometres, I mean 8 thousand miles, away from the community that was my home for most of my life was by no means simple, and sometimes even felt varying degrees of despisable. They are different. My house is different, my environment is different, the people I encounter at the store are different. Sitting in a new classroom filled with new people every 50 minutes felt incorrect because it is unlike Us, where we’re with a fixed group of people all year. Trenching through Cleveland snow felt incorrect because it wasn’t like Us, who faced nothing but sun. Everywhere I turned, there was one small detail that reminded me that I am not with Us, that I am somewhere else that is not my home.
But as time went on, I saw gradual changes. Those small details that itched and irked before became duller observations. The view as I looked out my new window became normal. Nothing on the outside had changed, but something on the inside had begun to shift. My idea of “Us” grew not only to accommodate my home in India or USA, but to accept both, despite the fundamental differences. This is what I believe will lead to not only a larger world, but a harmonious world for all. Despite our differences, we must not look at the world as Us and Them. We must grow our hearts to accept that despite our differences, we are all human at the root, and there is kindness enough for a world where it isn’t me thriving at your demise, but rather where all cultures and all countries can coexist together.
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