Gender and Diversity 1

I was always constantly moving as a child. I've never had a lack of diversity around me. There are always some sort of individuals around me that don't look like me or that don't think like me, that don't dress like me or that don't speak like me. I imagine if I ever had experienced a part of my life without a wide and unique group of people around me, then I would've turned out quite different. Not having known different viewpoints would've left me unable to comprehend someone whose traditions and culture were different from my own. However, not many people travel a lot, so I wonder how they manage to adjust to different people. For me, it was always a balance between compromising and expressing my individuality, but I suppose that's a struggle everyone goes through. However there certain forms of discrimination (grouping people into categories) that cause more harm than good.

For Example...


How different is someone's life who can't go to certain places because his appearance doesn't allow him/her to fit in? What do you do if it were you? Your mental attitude towards the situation will be the most significant influence upon your actions. If you are happy, like Ramirez, people around you are a bit more jolly, a bit more caring. In Ramirez's story, he's always the "Ex ssseterra.. " (Anthology 839) kid. A simple ESL kid but an equivalent of "being mentally retarded" (Anthology 839). Ramirez's dislikes the fact that he can't just fir in, but his attitude isn't a negative one. That's his personal balance between his individuality and the compromises he makes. There's always a trade-off between the two.

We Want To Be Unique


However, there's another situation that needs to be addressed. What about when a group identity (such as being Mexican, White, Black, Brown... etc.) takes significance over personal individuality? Some say this is rare, but we often know from our own experiences that people behave differently when they're in a group. The psychology of the person changes; some people change because they want to be someone different, while others change because they want to embrace themselves (their roots, culture and traditions). Such is the case with Norma's brother Michael who later transforms into Miguel. "Something apparently led him to look inside himself and dig out his raices - his roots" (Anthology 845). Looking for one's roots requires the person to "take pride in and honor the changes [their] family went through when they had to [adjust]" to ethnic or other societal pressures (Anthology 845). Pride is what encourages us to feel good about our own individual characteristics; it's necessary, but sometimes it can get a little too much (examples: Adolf Hitler and the KKK). The latter is a discussion better suited for another time. But the point is that some people use their pride as tools to help balance the struggle between society and their individuality.

A Display of Cultural Pride!



The best attitude in my opinion is to view the entire struggle as a natural concept. An adjustment that must take place when someone relocates to a different geographical background. It holds true when you move from one city in Texas to another or from the poor part of town to a richer part of town, or when you move entire countries altogether! Alessandro Melendez is absolutely a mastermind at this. After reading through his story, I realized that he never really questioned the struggle's existence, but rather he simply accepted it and tried to do the best he could. His parents were his anchor to his Latino side, and he himself was simply just managing the best he could. His attitude eliminates a need for a need to balance his individuality against society, that sort of just balances itself out as he just does what he does. It was his competitiveness, or lack thereof, that gave him this quality... Always wanting to be the best, he simply kept on trying to climb up as high as he could. "There was always someone... doing better and... [he] learned to accept not being the best" (Anthology 855). All he wanted to do was the best he could, and in a sense, that all he really can do so he wouldn't worry.

Be Like the Turtle, You'll be Faster than a Rabbit


It's our attitudes that most rapidly affect our actions. With the right mindset/perspective, anything is possible. Diversity it seems helps us develop our own mental models to sort of mold either ourselves or society; either way, in a diverse environment something is always changing. The management of these changes is how our attitudes and pride develops, and eventually, we force ourselves to stick to one or a small group of mental models that we then use as a template for our day to day decisions. Sometimes this is for the better, but at other times, not quite so. We're always having to tip that scale in our favor as with all the diversity around us we crave our own individuality.