If Only We All Saw the Value in Diversity

My understanding of diversity has changed and grown, as I have become an adult. Diversity has been an ever-present theme throughout my life. Having been adopted from Guatemala by two white women has made my diverseness outwardly obvious. As a teenager there were times when all I wanted was to have a mom and a dad or parents who looked like me. I hated when people assumed I was Mexican and or spoke Spanish. I felt just as American as any of my peers around me. As a teenager my understanding of diversity was simply what made me stand out from my peers. Going to a mostly white private school made me see my differences as a negative thing.

As I grew older I began to understand that there was more to diversity than what makes a person physically stand out from one another. It is so easy to look at a person and make snap judgments about them and the lives they have lived. The diversity in my life is a testament; there can be so much more than what you see. I have come to understand that every person is unique in ways that one can only discovered by getting to know one another. As a teenager seeking to belong I was not always proud of what made me different. However, today, diversity has come to mean different and differences as opposed to better or worse.

Symbiosis in biology refers to the interdependency within the environment. For things to work species depend on each other for survival and biodiversity is extremely important because there are so many roles in order for species, as a whole to survive earth’s elements. This being brought to light for me in a freshmen biology class helped me realize how important diversity truly is, and how boring my life and the world would be with out it. I believe it is the acceptance and respect of diversity that builds the strongest communities.

I will never forget standing in a circle alone, surrounded by all my fellow peers, during one of the first activities in the gym upstairs. In the beginning of high school I would have been mortified at such attention when first getting to know people but instead I was somewhat relieved to just have the fact I was adopted out in the open. I also felt special and unique and later on accepted and respected for it. I felt like my unique life experience could be shared with others who many or may not be adopted and interested it what that life experience might be like. I believe all people should be able to be proud of what makes them different. This leads to my belief in the importance of accepting and respecting others as well as ones own diversity.