We're not that different

How many times have we heard the tried-and-true proclamation that we, as members of a diverse and multicultural society, need to "respect our differences"? This saying has been repeated so often and in so many forums as to reduce it to the level of virtual triteness, yet it is repeated again and again by people of all stripes trying to say something meaningful about the way in which Americans - as a nation of immigrants - can and should live together. Few will disagree that this saying has gained such prominence because it is saying something very true: Americans do need to have respect for and even (to borrow from the book of cliched sayings) celebrate the things that make our nation the most diverse on Earth. However, in the continued push to do this, many are forgetting to tip their hats to the very things that enable us to appreciate the differences among us: our similarity to each other.

That's right, just look around - instead of focusing on what makes you different from the person walking past, try and name a few things that the two of you have in common. The thing that makes the United States the envy of the world (besides microwave ovens and daytime TV) is this country's uncanny ability to absorb people from every corner of the globe and have them and their descendants live peaceably with one another in a republican democracy governed by rule of law and built on a common commitment to freedom, equal opportunity and hard work.

In other parts of the world, the differences we have the great fortune to respect are cause for civil war, ethnic feuds and cleansing, hatred, slaughter, and strife. One need only look to the killing fields of Rwanda, Sarajevo, Chechnya and more recently New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania to appreciate the divide between our society and so many others in this regard.

A primary reason for our ability to live peacefully with one another is the fact that in America, we are taught that we're not all that different from each other. Sure, an immigrant from China will have a different view of America than a Midwestern farmer, but the fact is that they both have a heart beating in their chests, and a desire to be free to pursue the hopes and dreams that come with being a human being. It is this recognition that makes each of them an American and as such, each the other's fellow countryman. The fact that they differ from each other can be appreciated due to the recognition that there are many more similarities binding the two of them together than differences driving them apart.

We would do well to bear this in mind in a time where "diversity training" and political correctness call on people to emphasize that there are things that some people can never "fully understand" about their neighbors simply because of their skin color, ethnicity or lifestyle. We're all different, but in America at least, we have the common sense to recognize that we're not that different.

This has been my final column as a student and as a columnist for this paper. I have always believed that advice is worth what one pays for it and as this paper is free, I am genuinely humbled by those that take the time to consider my point of view every other week. I wish those people and everyone else at this great University the best.

Chris Murray is immediate past-chairman of the Washington College Republican Federation. Opinions expressed here are his own.