For those of you who don’t know me, I have an incredibly short attention span. It’s almost impossible for me to complete a task without getting distracted multiple times in the process. So naturally, sitting through a 90-minute-long class is an incredibly painful ordeal.
It was during one of these torturous classes that I started to really notice the people sitting around me. I found it intriguing how people differ from one another, both physically and mentally. And that’s when it hit me. One of the things I take for granted is how diverse and different everyone is, because of how insignificant it seems to be in everyday life.
Out of the 7 billion people that walk on Earth every day,  no two are ever alike; like the dainty snowflakes that fall out of the sky in the winter, every person on the planet is unique. Even twins can be easily distinguished from one another because of the differences in their personalities, tastes and styles. Although people can be similar, they are never the same.
When we’re children, we notice that people are different, but we don’t ever see what that means. And I’m not entirely sure we understand this when we’ve grown up, either.  I’ve seen and heard many people who blow these differences out of proportion.  Some think of people who are different as wrong. Some feel they can only talk to people who are like them and have the same opinions and feelings.
What bothers me is that these people are clearly missing the point. There is diversity for a reason. People are different for a reason.
Everyone is unique, and everyone has their own talent, their own opinion, their own ideals and their own personal style. If people didn’t have their own unique spin on life, the world would be a bland and tasteless place. Every classroom on Earth would have the same people, with the same abilities, hoping for the same future. Every household would have the same type of family, and every individual would have the same beliefs and opinions.
The world is not meant to be a big, tasteless blob. If diversity did not separate people into different social, political and cultural groups, the world would be like a plain pancake with no chocolate chips or syrup — boring and unappealing.
In the past sixteen years of my life, I’ve met many people with different backgrounds, different experiences and different opinions. And all of them are wonderful because of it. But every day, I take the differences between my peers and I for granted. Their special aspects get pushed to the back of my mind. But differences really make life a lot more interesting.
So, for the next time you get bored in class, you know what to do.
By Afsah Khan