Unity Thru Diversity

A light moment at work. My wife and I took a few minutes to pose for a picture with our multinational/multiracial colleagues - from left to right, Sonali from New Delhi, Dotty from Sydney, and Amr from Cairo. Perhaps the most significant benefit I got for working outside of my homeland was the way it has broadened my perception of many things - of people most especially. I admit that I used to have prejudices on various races and religions. I used to think that all Muslims are terrorists, that black people are all gangsters and that Western people are snobs and discriminate Asians like me. For about 10 years now, I have been working with these people. Yes - Arabs, Indians, Americans, British, Australians, Chinese, Malaysians, Singaporean, Bruneians, Africans, Egyptians, Jamaicans, Greeks, Italians, Ukranians . . . I must have worked with every nationality at one time or another, directly or indirectly. Because of that I now see people beyond their color. Our office has a multicultural / multinational atmosphere. "Unity thru diversity", we were told by Personnel. On the job, when I deal with people, I don't see any color, I only see people - professionals. Just like you and me. While there are cultural clashes in the office from time to time, they are usually minor and are easily solved by discussing. It has been a very good experience for me. Plus the benefit you get of learning different cultures first hand is simply - priceless.