When I started my first year of elementary school in South Arlington, Virginia; my class was 56.6% Hispanic, 20.6% white, 10.8% black and 12% Asian/Pacific Islander. As I moved on to middle school, the numbers became even more diverse. I graduated high school with a class of many different religions, races, sexualities and backgrounds.
I’ve had Muslim, Buddhist, Catholic, Jewish and atheist friends. In high school, I was the only white person in some of my classes. I've tried food and heard music from around the world. I've met people of different sexuality and gender expressions. All of these examples can’t even begin to describe the colorful, diverse education experience I had. Although issues still arose, this environment shaped the person I am today.
I am white American, blonde, Christian, the daughter of a single mom and part of the lower-middle class. I am tolerant to other religions and I try to love all people. I'm not colorblind because I see and embrace our diversity and beautiful colors. I think we all have something to learn from one another.
Growing up, I would still hear some racist, sexist and homophobic comments in school. The difference is that I learned right from wrong very quickly due to whom I was surrounded by. I was never given the chance to dehumanize Muslim people because I have them as friends. I was never able to think of an immigrant as anything other than a fellow human because my friends were the children of immigrants. I could never belittle a teenage mom because I held my best friends' newborn baby when we were sixteen years old. All of the experiences I've had growing up shaped my heart and mind to accept everyone the way they are.
I had a family friend say to me, “I think you shouldn’t go to a school like George Mason because it's a little too diverse. I think you'd do much better at a school in the country like Liberty or down South. You know, with people more like you.”
I honestly was astonished that someone, knowing what kind of city I grew up in, would say something like that to me. I thought to myself, “Why would I want to live in a fake reality, where everyone is the same skin tone, and religion?”
I believe that when people grow up like that, your mind isn't as open to others as it could be. This can have a lot of negative consequences on our communities and country.
I am very thankful to have grown up the way I did. I can't imagine it any other way. If I hadn't, I might have very different world views than I do now. I might not appreciate everyone's background and diversity. Most importantly, I might not have learned to accept that a person is different than me, and that that is okay. More than okay, but beautiful.
