Many important researches point out Toronto as the most diverse and multicultural city in the world. Authors such as Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers, defines it as “the greatest cultural lab in the world”. These are definitely not some random ideas, our society embraces a huge amount of ways of living all together at the exact same place; right across the street.
Understanding and respecting each other values, believes, and behaviors is a must in our society. Familiarizing and identifying the different concepts and/or perceptions that other members of our community have will help us to avoid a possible cultural shock.
There’s absolutely nothing ‘natural’ for all human beings. As Homo Sapiens, culture is a relative new improvement, with that being said, we are still developing our mental power in order to remake our own ‘world’, in other words, we are still struggling to be able to adapt our intimate culture to this inclusive Canadian society.
No matter all existing differences and misunderstandings between us due to our many ways of living, there are common grounds or cultural components, for example, language, symbols, values, and norms in which all societies are built on. We rely on these elements to engage various essential processes such as cultural transmission; a method that assures that one-generation passes knowledge to the upcoming one, so that that particular and distinctive legacy will prevail among the inhabitants of that specific group.
All societies create their own various and unique standards. Values and beliefs are culturally defined by what individuals consider a ‘must do’ and what they hold to be true as well. Canada for instance, serves as an outstanding role model on regards of this relevant issue, conformed by native peoples and immigrants from all over the world, the government has identified numerous cultural values, e.g. tolerance, equality, dialogue, diversity, generosity, and commitment to freedom and peace, all these principles suggest how we should behave in everyday life.
By accepting and honouring our discrepancies we should be able to play an important role in our society’s cultural integration, acknowledging those who stand by their ‘opposed’ ideas, we can develop a wiser environment that admires cultural diversity, and as sociology defines it, this would definitely be the endorsement of the counterculture idea.
For better or worse we all have grown in dissimilar and astonishing backgrounds, we were given a set of ideas to implement, rules to follow, and some liberties to explore this world without detaching ourselves from the general perspective that our society and our culture have consistently declared ‘natural’.
Derechos reservados© Nicolás Marrugo Silva
