If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from attending school at UT, it’s that diversity is a beautiful thing. Our campus and the city of Austin is overflowing with people of all different races, religions, backgrounds, ethnicities, and beliefs. And it keeps things interesting!
I even did my own little analysis once on this topic. When I was in high school, my parents and I took a road trip one Saturday for Explore UT. I remember seeing so many people who were different from me and I remember being really comfortable with it. I mean, it wasn’t something that made me take a step back and go “whoa, you’re not like me.” In my eyes we were all connected because we were all prospective UT students.
However, on the trip home my family and I stopped for dinner in College Station (because on the trip home, C.S. has the best choices of restaurants). While in the restaurant, I noticed that everybody pretty much looked the same. The girls wore the same style of clothes, their hair was all perfectly straightened the same way, the guys all wore Abercrombie or Hollister polos and (of course, how could an aggie go without) a dirty a&m cap. And I remember being a little disgusted with the monotony of the people there, and I know I told my parents that one of the reasons I loved UT and Austin was because you would not find cookie-cutter people there. (now i’m not saying that everybody in C.S. or a&m is the same, but it’s close…it’s definitely not Austin)
Although I’m from a small East Texas town with whites being the majority of the population, coming to UT and Austin wasn’t the culture shock that some people thought it would be for me. I credit this to having an open-mind, and I think it’s something some people could use a little more of.
To me, having an open mind doesn’t mean weakening one’s belief system. It means that I can be tolerant of another’s beliefs, lifestyles, religion, etc. I may not agree with it, but that doesn’t give me permission to condemn someone else for it. In the end, I think having an open mind allows us to all to get along better- more peacefully if I do say so myself. Our time on this earth is short anyway, why should we waste it bickering about things we can’t change about each other and instead work on the things we can change. Together.
1 Comment
November 12, 2008 at 10:13 am
This is funny because I have in the past felt convinced that the a&m campus is a big cover up for a cult, lol. I watched what they did at a football game – the chanting in unison – and it kind of creeped me out. So maybe the clothing is part of this?