So Bowling Green is not quite like your hometown? Welcome to Life 101.
The University is a land full of diversity. Students flock here from all over Ohio and from other areas of the country as well. The University inevitably surpasses our myriad of differences to unite us all.
Even so, we still retain our individual diverse backgrounds. With this fact in mind, it is imperative that we are accepting of other’s differences.
It was the weekend before classes began when I overheard a freshmen saying that he was already moving out of his dorm room.
It was a Saturday and freshmen move-in had taken place on the previous Thursday. How could someone have such serious problems with their roommate after only three days?
As it turns out, the freshmen chose to relocate because his roommate was homosexual. Now, I don’t know the whole story behind this decision; however, it seems slightly unreasonable to me.
So maybe the freshmen disagreed with his roommate’s sexual orientation. That is his prerogative and such disagreement is understandable.
Still, it seems absurd if the freshmen chose to leave on the sole basis that his roommate is homosexual.
As long as the roommate is not infringing upon the freshmen’s rights, what’s the harm? When it comes down to it, it’s simply a difference.
Working through differences and coping with diversity is part of living with others. We should all try to accept those whose views differ from our own. This does not mean we can’t have our own opinion on matters, but rather we show respect for one another.
Furthermore, I wonder, would the freshmen have chosen to change rooms if his roommate was left-handed? Odds are he wouldn’t have. And had he, would that be viewed as more or less ridiculous? I realize these examples are somewhat extreme in their comparison, but I offer them as questions to ponder nonetheless.
As students living on a diverse college campus, we must be accepting of others. I am not saying that we should accept every new belief that we come across, but rather accept the people who hold those beliefs.
Differences among people are inevitable. Differences are not automatically bad though. By refusing to accept and get to know others because of their viewpoints, we perpetuate a society of ignorance. And ignorance is a frame of mind we should all be fighting.
Later, during the same aforementioned weekend, ignorance struck again. I was sitting across the hall in a friend’s room when a new student walked by and introduced himself.
There was nothing remarkably different about the new student. In spite of this, my friend relentlessly and vehemently insisted he had an accent. This prompted her to ask how long he had been living in America; to which he questioningly replied, ‘A little over 18 years.’
My friend (wrongly) inferred that because the student, as she claimed, had an accent he was from another country. It also just so happens that he was wearing a shirt with the word GREECE printed across the chest.
Fortunately, this misunderstanding became the source of immense laughter. Then again, it can offer some insight as to how we view other people.
Often times we use differences to distinguish others. This is effective in that it allows us to identify one person from another.
However, we must be cautious. When we use differences to label others we can sometimes fail to acknowledge differences.
Just as everyone’s views can differ, appearances can differ as well. Not only should we be accepting of differences in opinion, we should also accept differences in appearance.
For example, is there any reason why we shouldn’t engage in conversation with the blue-haired student sitting in front of us?
Individuality is something to be celebrated. Accepting others is simply one way to respect our diverse community.