We try — as parents, as teachers, and those of influence — to teach those to whom we try to impart knowledge or ideas to celebrate our differences, to demonstrate to our kids how different is good, and how no one color or religion or culture is 'best'. It is one of our biggest challenges to try to teach such enormous concepts, especially to those whose reality is only what they can see or physically touch. What do you mean there are others who live in different lands? I can't see it, so therefore how do I even know it exists?
Much like the child who has just discovered the little boy in the mirror is not actually a different person but their own reflection, kids don't fully understand that which they cannot touch ... until they start to see the bigger picture.
One of the reasons I love Whoever you are by Mem Fox is the beautiful illustrations, and how they help to highlight how different the world really is, and how different people are physically, and still the same in their hearts. They live differently, speak differently, and dress differently, but they are still the same. Different is not bad; different is just as good, and it is okay.
Especially for those who grow up in communities that are saturated with one skin color, one religion or one culture group, it can be hard to understand that not everyone is the same. We are more the same than we are different. We can not just tolerate these differences, but we can accept and embrace them.
'If we focus more on our likenesses instead of our differences we’ll get along better whether we’re in pairs, in small groups or in nation states. Across the world we’ll be far less isolated ... We’ll be kinder, more sensitive, more sensible, more tolerant, more helpful and more forgiving.'