OUR VIEW: Look for the diversity around you

Celebrate diversity.

We hear it often, and to some people diversity may simply be a “buzz word,” but this week at Utah State University, students are being given the opportunity to refocus their vision of life and see the world through the lens of diversity.

Diversity week, filled with lectures, pageants and other activities, is meant not only to allow students from different ethnic backgrounds to express their culture, but to give local students the chance to experience life with a twist.

It may even be that the relevance of the week lies most in its ability to educate those who know least about these other cultures. Indian students know India, Mexican students know Mexico and Chinese students know China. The question diversity week asks is:

Do you?

In learning about those who share this planet we better prepare ourselves to live in it.

And isn’t that what college is all about?

African-American poet, Maya Angelou, once said that “we all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.”

This week, Gabe Carter and many volunteers are making it possible to see humanities grand tapestry and appreciate the reds and blacks as much as the blues and whites.

Though he may not be the paragon of humanity (thanks to plastic surgery, he may not even be classified as part of humanity), Michael Jackson may have said it better than anyone else:

It don’t matter if you’re black or white.

Celebrate diversity.