Faith Will Unite Us

Faith is a funny concept. When most people hear “faith” they think religion is the only factor. Faith isn’t always about religion and God and prayer. Faith can simply mean putting your trust in your fellow human beings. I have never really considered myself religious, but I would definitely say I have faith. This faith is renewed by the simplest things sometimes.

During my time as an AmeriCorps VISTA, I have seen wondrous things I wouldn’t have necessarily seen through religion. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not putting down religion here. What I am doing is boosting faith in humanity. We hear atrocious things daily about some war or conflict or all around bad situation. So few times do we actually hear about good things that are happening and how people can get together peacefully and enjoy each other’s company and cultures.

A few weeks ago, I was part of something so beautiful I won’t ever be able to properly describe it. We called it Taste of Nations. Our entire community gathered together to celebrate the cultures that create us. Dozens of cultures shared their history and their cuisine and their art and everyone just soaked it in. Not a single bad word about any of the cultures was uttered. This is despite the fact that over the past few years there have been several complaints and outcries against immigrants taking over our town. Despite all that anger and prejudice that had been built up, everyone embraced the combination that makes us unique.

Mexicans, Norwegians, Native Americans, Czechs, Cubans, Hondurans, Americans…are all proud of where they come from and where they have ended up. We are all here for a reason: to live. Rarely do we ever have the chance to see what makes us…us. The dancing, the singing, the food, the clothes all combined to make one perfect day of happiness between all cultures.

We heard endless streams of praise about the event. “You should have it more than once a year”, “We should have done this years ago”, “Have it over two days instead of just one”, “Bring in more cultures”, and the list goes on. Not a single person said we shouldn’t have done the event. Not a single person said they didn’t have fun. Not a single person said anything negative about anyone at the event.

So, you see, faith isn’t just religion. It’s trusting that the people we live with are not much different from ourselves. We all want to live together in a peaceful way, and we can. Sometimes it just seems a little harder to do this when jobs are scarce and the economy isn’t the greatest and crime seems to be happening more than it used to. But despite all those bad things that happen, we still have a lot in which to put our faith. Believe in each other and things will work out the way it’s supposed to. Have faith.