I got the second place winner in National Essay Writing Contest 2013 which was held by Duta Wacana Christian University, Yogyakarta and here is the essay.
God has made each of us unique and
different. We all have different abilities, different talents, and different
personalities. He placed us in a region. Then, we together with other people
make a culture for that region. This is the origin of cultural differences. Culture
covers many things, such as: traditions, traditional dances, traditional foods,
traditional dress, traditional languages etc. Of course there are many regions
in this world with different cultures, even in one region. For instance, in
North Sumatera there are many Batak ethnic groups, such as Batak Karo, Batak
Toba, Batak Mandailing etc. They also have different traditional dresses.
The first thing we have to do is tolerate
the cultural differences. Tolerance means we accept the differences to make a
harmonious society. Can you imagine how would it be if every culture was the
same? I think we would easily get bored and stressed. Imagine if we went to
other cities or countries, and they also had the same culture with us, it would
be pointless. We would rather just stay at home and we would not get to broaden
our horizons about the world.
After we are
able to tolerate the cultural differences, the next thing we have to do is
understand it. It may not be an easy thing to do, because all of us have egoism
in ourselves. We have to place our egoism in the right place as we know that it
is also still needed in certain conditions, such as when it is related to our dignity,
truth, and honesty. We have to defend these things and in this case we need to
do things which are sometimes considered selfish. The act of embracing and
tolerating other cultures must be started from ourselves, and it will be copied
by other people.
But there is
one thing which can lead to two opposite things; positive and negative:
primordialism. On one side, it can conserve our cultures according to its
definition. Primordialism is a view that holds certain things firmly which is
brought since one was a child. However, on the other hand it can grow our
ethnocentrism, an attitude in which someone judges another cultures merely by
one’s own cultural views. In this case, we need to open our mind to these
cultural differences. Try to think that these will broaden our horizons.
The
important thing that we should know is that the cultural differences can unite
us. It means we will be stronger if we are together. As Robert Alan once said
“Cultural differences should not separate us from each other, but rather
cultural diversity brings a collective strength that can benefit all of
humanity.”Not only that, they also make the world beautiful and we can broaden
our horizons as we see the different cultures from other cities or countries.
If we realize this, we will be able to understand the cultural differences.
Based on the
definition of character building, which is to strengthen positive traits in
one’s character, accepting and understanding cultural differences are both included. In order to be able to accept and understand the
differences, we have to grow and develop our humanity. There are several ways
to grow and develop our humanity, one of them is respecting these cultural
differences. As John Hume once said “Difference is of the essence of humanity.
Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source
of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies
a most fundamental principle of peace: respect for diversity.”
Aristotle said that man was by nature a
social animal which means we need to socialize with other people. By
socializing with other people we will get to respect and understand them at
once. If we do this, we will surely be able to accept and understand their
cultures which are different from ours. These cultivate our humanity which is
an important component in the process of character building. Without this, we
will be uncivilized and there will be no peace in this world. Besides humanity,
open-mindedness also grows in ourselves. Like it or not, recognize it or not,
creating an open-minded character is very important. Because harmony and peace
will only occur if one another understands the cultural differences. Like a
flower garden, which consists of various kinds and colours of flowers will be
more beautiful than the homogenous one.
