I remember roaming around the gorgeous Enoshima Island with some of my friends during my foreign exchange journey to Japan. It was a cold, beautiful day and as we strolled across the island full of moors and trees I heard sounds coming from a certain direction. Curiosity made me step towards that way and I came across a secluded and stunning Buddhist shrine. It was not the first time I had seen a shrine or a building belonging to another religion, for that matter. But all of those visits were purely touristic, whereas this time I was looking at a people’s gathering with no visitors or onlookers. A pure social congregation of cultural and religious expression that people from our country are so rarely able to witness. It was a spiritual meditation by the esoteric monks of Japan and everything from the music they were playing to the sheer religiosity and faith with which the faithful were singing the hymns, was astonishing and amazing to watch. It was, at the same time, a cultural shock, a cultural realization and a contemplation as to why so many of us look at other cultures, other communities and other people with such cynicism, contempt and a judgmental attitude.
We tend to make quick stereotypes, judgements and start creating distances and boundaries between people and between ideas when there need not be any. We fail to realize that our own personal lives and social circles are so full of differences and diversity and despite that, we do not appreciate the beauty and importance of being different. If we think for a moment about how inherently diverse our personalities, behavior and views are from even within our family, the most tightly-knit of all our social groups, we find that no two people are alike. Which brings me to state that each and every person has the capacity and nature-endowed freedom to form opinions, value-judgements, thoughts and associations and we must all learn to accept, tolerate and celebrate this diversity in everything. The beauty of an open society lies in its foundations of respect for different views and opinions. The precursor to progress rests with an environment and space where people can express their differences, their viewpoints and their cultural, social, political bent of mind with no restriction or name-calling from anyone.
We must understand that change is the only constant and for social progress and advancement, we must encourage acceptance of diversity and divergent views. Because in the end, there are so many different viewpoints, paths and realities that closed-mindedness does not work. Our various realities would sometimes conflict, sometimes compromise and sometimes reach an impasse. At such times, the only path that remains is to allow different views and different people to meet one another, to get to know one another, to understand one another and to accept one another’s differences with respect and open-mindedness. And then the opportunities are limitless, the power of togetherness and of diversity are immeasurable. It produces synergy and we achieve results that are far better than if each one of us had only occupied our own little realities and negated and hated the other. Such is the way life and society progresses, domain of thinking expands and standards of intellect improve.
Therefore, I encourage every reader to appreciate and understand the various realities that are part of our world. The institutions, businesses, society and, in essence, everything that is part of the present and the future would need an inclusive, global and diverse thinking to succeed. The four years that we spend at LUMS must also play a major role in expanding our horizons and making us work and thrive in diversity. Here, we are privileged to meet people from all across the nation, from all provinces and regions, which makes it even more necessary that we befriend people from various backgrounds, work and learn from them and, by doing so, improve each other’s lives. So that when we graduate we can be proud that we have learnt to not just appreciate but celebrate diversity, not just tolerate but work with dissimilar viewpoints, not just accept but improve upon these differing perspectives and world opinions. We must evolve into citizens that cherish diversity and use it to produce better results; whether it is in our personal, social or professional lives. The future would demand globally oriented leaders who would be able to work with this immense diversity. Therefore, I also suggest my fellows to take up an international exchange while in their academic programme; whether it is for a foreign exchange semester, international internship or a year abroad. And when you do that, make sure you befriend and spend time with people from other countries who speak different languages, have different worldviews and have varied realities. The exposure and lessons you learn through this immersion are boundless and one’s frame of references, one’s perspectives and realities all change and improve for good. Because as someone once said, ‘Diversity is not just a characteristic of life, it is a condition necessary for life … like air and water.’
