Things Learned by an International Student From China in the USA - Essay Example

30 January Globally, hatred is growing in many countries in which intolerance and violence are two major sources which are used to show discontent against others. This hatred is based on religion, caste, color, language and culture as well. People from the same religion find it hard to adjust with the followers of other religions; and the same is true about those who do not want to talk with people from different ethnic and social backgrounds. And for this, they insist that they are superior to others; and others are inferior and they are different. As a result, violence and hate crimes are growing which are not in favor of collective coexistence. And more importantly, in today’s world, it is difficult to expect that an act of violence will not receive the similar treatment from the victim. In other words, violence creates violence. In order to avoid this savage behavior and to support and work for the collective coexistence, it is highly essential that difference must not be used as a point for hatred but it should be celebrated as a form of diversity. United States of America is a multi-cultural society where people from different countries, different nations and from different ethnic, social, social and economic and religious backgrounds live together (Chandra and Mahajan 31). And this experience has been very unique and interesting for me for various reasons as I have made so many local friends and have experienced that such negative attitudes are not common as they are told, informed and considered internationally. For example, internationally it is assumed that both China and the United States of America do not have friendly or cordial relations as both do not have similar or favorable attitudes towards each other. And more interestingly, the global media and the national media do not take time to portray this type of relationship between America and China in such a way to highlight intense and deep animosity between them. Consequently, people living in countries follow media and nurture hatred against each others. In other words, there are certain “vested interests” who earn through fuelling negative sentiment in the relationship between both countries. However, the ground reality is always totally different. Before coming to the United States, the effect of such media news was very much on my mind and the subsequent result was that I was unable to have positive and constructive opinion about people. Later on, after entering into the United States, my mindset suddenly changed after meeting with my American fellows. First, the local friends do not give different treatment instead the similar treatment, which I had in my home country, has been experienced by me. For example, my neighbors are kind and so nice to me. Once returning back to my apartment, I lost my apartment key and my roommate was scheduled to arrive after 5 hours. At that time, I informed this situation to my neighbor and he did not take much time to help me by allowing me to stay at his home till the arrival of my roommate. During this stay, the neighbor served me with dinner and coffee and chat with me. Consequently, this interaction generated friendship between us and we became very good friends. And till this point of time, we go outside and dine together and share our ideas about learning and different things about student life and life in China. Culture and personality have been included in the domain of diversity (Bhattacharyya 77). This interaction has taught me many important lessons. First, news in the national and international media does not always reflect ground reality. Instead of relying on such news, it is highly essential that one’s own understanding should be used for assessing the authenticity of such news. For example, while watching such news, it is vital to know and understand the ultimate objective of news through comprehending the objective of news; consequently, news objectives will become crystal clear. Moreover, most of the time, in such news, the objective is to create hatred among nations and people living in United States and in China. And by dividing or creating hatred, they obtain their financial motives. Second, people from different backgrounds are not always harsh and hard instead they have unique demeanor which must be understood fully before going to make any opinion about them. This perspective is highly relevant and significant as it is commonly observed that people construct opinion very fastly and this construction is mainly carried out by the ideas and approaches which are secondary and are provided by the national and international news media. As a result, such opinions are always contaminated with detest with people from other countries and backgrounds. In order to avoid this hatred, only impartial sources and personal but authentic experiences should be used to form opinions about others; and this will enable students to reduce misconceptions about America (Li and Hong 8). Additionally, increased attention of American media covering China will have positive effect on developing mutual relations between people living in both countries (Jensen and Weston xxxii). More importantly, it is good to think universally instead of thinking regionally or nationally. Universally, we all humans live on a single planet which is surrounded by many stars and planets. In other words, we all humans directly or indirectly related to one another one way or other. And this relationship requires that we must understand and respect diversity around us. In summary, hatred and violence has only destroyed the world by separating us from one another. Currently, the world does not need violence and hatred but it requires harmony, sympathy and collective coexistence and that can only be availed through understanding and celebrating diversity around us. At the same time, my experience here in the United States has solidified my belief about collective coexistence and diversity. The humane and kind behavior and treatment of local fellows clearly hallmark that all people are good in their very nature and they do not want hatred and violence instead they want and prefer collective coexistence even for those individuals who have come from a different country for the purpose of receiving education in the United States. As a result, we all will be able to make safer and stable world and relations through having cordial people to people contact. Works Cited Bhattacharyya, Dipak Kumar. Cross-Cultural Management: Text and Cases. New Delhi: PHI Learning, 2010. Print. Chandra, Bipan. Mahajan, S. (Eds.). Composite Culture in Multicultural Society. New Delhi: Pearson, 2007. Print. Jensen, M. Lionel. Weston, B. Timothy. (Eds.). China’s Transformations: The Stories Beyond The Headlines. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefied, 2007. Print. Li, Hongshan. Hong, Zhaohui (Eds.). Image, Perception, and the Making of U.S.-China Relations. Maryland: University Press of America, 1998. Print. Read More