Simple Suggestion # 220... Celebrate multiculturalism

This morning as I listened to the radio, my heart cracked a little more, again. The radio host interviewed the mother of a young gentleman who was attacked by two un-gentlemen on a city bus on Friday night. The perpetrators used racial slurs and picked on their victim just because he was of a Turkish/Trinidadian background. And when people around him defended him and tried to help, the offenders lashed out at the good samaritans, too.

How people can be so terrible to one another on the basis of skin colour/race is beyond me, but I don't want to dwell on that. Instead, I'd like to suggest that we take every opportunity to celebrate multiculturalism wherever we live, and get to know our neighbours who are different than we are.

On Friday evening, there's a great opportunity -- our L'Arche community is celebrating what we call Heritage Day. Because the assistants of our core members with disabilities come from across the globe, we have an annual celebration where everyone is invited to dress in clothing from their own cultures and bring food to be shared with all participants. Last year we had foods from Brazil, Germany, Korea, Romania, Russia, and Syria, just to name a few. Entertainment and music are provided by the community, and sometimes a special cultural group will come to perform. I'm planning to bake some cookies that my family knows as German buns, but my friend Cathrin in Munich educated me, and now I'm calling them zuckerschnecken.

So, if you've nothing to do on Friday evening, come join us. Tickets are only $12, with all funds going to support L'Arche communities in Central and South America. It's a great way to celebrate our multicultural society, and to counteract the ignorance of those who have yet to learn that diversity is beautiful! To put it simply, friendship is always better than fear.

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