Reflective Autobiography - Assignment Example

Reflective Autobiography: Diversity Diversity is a common word used on a daily basis by different individualsgroups and the society as a whole. The reason for its frequent use in our everyday lives can be attributed to its unique contextual use in several scenarios. The online dictionary, as well as the oxford dictionary, have a series of synonyms as well as explanations to explain the word, and the most simple explanation agreed on is ‘a difference’ (Oxford Online). Straight from a young age, I have come across the word several times and in each case, it has been used in a different contextual environment.

At a very young, when I had just started school, I was taught about the family and here the subject of diversity first emerged. My teachers and my parents taught me on how diversity played a significant role in the family make-up. Not only were roles played by each individual in my family were diverse, but I also came to learn having different families leaving in the same community and in harmony despite their many differences represented a significant role of diversity to the community. Just like a family, the community is linked to a more complex state of diversity as there are so many factors involved in distinguishing not only families but individuals as well.

It is at this stage that I was able to learn factors such as ‘nuclear,’ ‘single’, ‘extended’ and many other terms that were used to describe families (Harris). Then while interacting with my peers and the community as a whole I was able to notice how we all looked different. Growing up reflected many incidences of diversity, and I grew to understand its meaning in-depth. Later into life as my education advanced is when I started understanding the meaning of diversity under more complex subjects and contexts such as its role in communication, business, sociological, political, and technological.

I came to realize that diversity is the uniqueness in every aspect of our life, the differences that define each of us as a person. These aspects include race, age, religion, political ideology, ethnicity, sexuality, physical appearance and abilities, preferences, as well as cultural practices (Unzueta, Knowles, and Ho). As I grow older, I realized that diversity is what determines every step in my life including the diversity in the choices I made for my lifestyle. Having been born and raised in China and later moving to the US where I have been studying the English language for the last ten years has been a great step for me as far as diversity is concerned.

Not only have I been introduced to a different culture, but I have also spent a significant number of my years studying a different language away from what I was taught while growing up. All these factors lead to one significant concept in our life, which is ‘diversity’ and how it plays a major role in our life. In conclusion, the most important part of all this is practicing tolerance, being understanding, explorative, and celebrating the rich dimensions diversity that are within our environment and individuals.

ReferencesHarris, S. R. “What Is Family Diversity? Objective and Interpretive Approaches.” Journal of Family Issues 2008: 1407–1425.Online, Oxford English Dictionary. “Oxford English Dictionary Online.” Oxford English Dictionary. N.p., 2010. Print.Unzueta, M. M., E. D. Knowles, and G. C. Ho. “Diversity Is What You Want It to Be: How Social-Dominance Motives Affect Construals of Diversity.” Psychological Science 2012: 303–309.