After being thrown into many different diverse environments growing up I have come to value all the diversity that I can find on a daily basis. However, one point I would like to make before delving into the topic of diversity is to eliminate the misconception that diversity only consists of race. Diversity in its simplest form means that there is a variety of different things that come together. When I say diversity I will often be referring to the following things: race, gender, class, age, origin, education, income, and many other different capabilities of each individual.
I never truly began to appreciate the assortment of people that surrounded me until my junior and senior years of high school. The reasoning behind this is that I began opening my eyes more to the actual classroom environment rather than the classroom itself. I began to see how well me and my fellow peers got along with one another, sadly because it was pointed out to me how strange that actually was. Our differences were rarely the talk of the town, and when they were there was always a level of understanding that never really excluded anyone or shut anyone down. I was finally seeing how truly blessed I was to be surrounded by the kind of people that I had been, and I even find myself feeling ashamed at times of ever having taken that for granted.
Even though I did not see the broad range of diversity I was being exposed to until later in my life, it had no less of an impact on who I have become. There are many benefits that I have received from living in multiple diverse environments without ever realizing it. For example I remember when I first met my best friend Destiney. There are many things between us that are both similar and very different. We bonded on specific familial situations that seemed to be almost identical when we were in seventh grade, but after bonding we found that our backgrounds and childhoods were contrasting in many ways. I grew to love her because of her ability to understand my situation. That love allowed me to open up my mind to the different aspects of her life that I was unaccustomed to. Her friendship is the seed to all other relationships I built after that because it allowed me to understand that I don't need to be the same as those around me in order to develop strong relationships.
This is a fine example of the sizable impact diversity could potentially have on many children today. Exposing them to other children that are different than themselves will allow for relationships to be built not solely based on similar lifestyles, but rather the acceptance of sundry lifestyles. Starting to expose children to different varieties of other people at a younger age will open their minds more as they grow up. They will also learn, as I have, of the differing types of diversity that come into play as life moves forward. This way when peers of the next generation that come from varying backgrounds connect with one another it won't be out of the norm.
