Diversity

Diversity

I understand that diversity is interesting. In fact it is.
You meet people from countries that you've never went or even dreamt of going.
You hear languages that use rules and sounds very different from our Greek, Catalan, English. You learn about things you've never seen and about different approaches to everyday life that would never cross your mind otherwise.

That's great, but you also need to be "politically correct" and take extra care not to offend someone's culture by mistake, not to be misinterpreted due a language problem , not to make certain jokes( sexual or not). Remember everyone's religion, cultural background, and in general, be aware, be careful, be extremely cautious.
Sometimes it is fun to be with people that understand your jokes, that you can pat on the shoulder and won't turn offended, people that you share ethnic background and experiences. It becomes (maybe) somewhat less interesting, but sometimes we all need it. And this is one of the reasons why earth will not be becoming a large village any time soon even though many of us speek English and eat McDonald's and buy Nike shoes. Because we, humans, find it interesting to be with diverse people and learn new languages and travel, but find it easier and more relaxing to be with similar ones. And I guess this is why we try to keep our identities in a very diverse environment, and others go to church, others organise cultural events, and others travel back home often.

Indeed, I believe in the "salad" theory, more than the "melting pot" theory.
(Dedicated to Dario, whose talk is this Friday)